The info that is going to get posted are letters that I have gotten from him while at bootcamp. So this is not him posting this but his wife....
November 15
There are a lot of young guys in my division so we are doing IT's which stands for Intensive Training which we are doing about every single day. And that is because the guys in my group are not listening and doing what they are told to do. There is a lot of memorization that we have to do and they keep us busy all day long. Only at night time that there is time to think about home or loved ones. After being at bootcamp for about two weeks i was finally able to attend church. And they gave us a peanut butter shot which made me weak for about 4-5 days. And I was choosen to be the Yeoman for my group.
November 22
I checked the schedule and I graduate January 8th 2010. And on that weekend I have liberty. And then I will be shipped out to a-school a few days after that. We were given a somewhat compliment with our marching and drills which is the first compliment we have gotten ever. I passed my first PFA. 36 people in my group didn't pass it and 16 of them didn't even take it because of dehydration and other reasons. On thanksgiving we get holiday routine which means they can shine shoes or write letters home until 1pm.
November 26
With being a Yeomen for my group I get training on how to do it and I don't feel like they have given me sufficient training for what I am doing. and the little red book that they gave me isn't doing much good either. We did our first personal inspections, dynamic amterial inpsection and our first zone cart inpection and i passed all three the first time. the other guys who didn't pass are retaking it and then if they don't pass it then then they will get set back 2 weeks. I was told by my chief today to eat banana's and yogurt before going running because they give you the energy you need.
November 29
Because of the holidays during my bootcamp that is why we graduate January 8th and not December 30th.
We have lost a lot of people out of our group about 10 people have either been set back or sent home. We have the highest attrition rate out of the 11 groups that got here the same day we did.
December 3/6
There isn't much room to keep stuff here so I will be sending the letters home that I got from you and my family so that we can keep them. If you write letters at night time when you aren't supposed to you can get set back a few weeks. So I don't do it because I don't want that to happen. Being put over seas is easier when you don't have kids and that they give you extra money while over seas since the expenses there a tad bit more there then in the USA. This coming week we have a lot of things coming and a lot of people refer to this week as Hell week. We have the Marlin Spike, we've got a PFA this week followed by our MCA Inspection followed by our Weapson Turn over Inpsection, we have our second test this coming week as well as bunk inspection while we get our Small Arms training. We are also doing live-fire traing/qualification this week.
December 10
I failed my weapons training today so i will need to retake that in a couple of days. I fell asleep during the training session. The flu and pink are going around. so far i have been able tol hold my own. And I passed my 2nd PFA test.
December 17
I finally got my pay stub. The RDC's were supposed to send me a down there a few weeks ago. but I picked them up today. I also got our divisions orders today for most everyone and I looked at mine and A-school is just across the street from where i am at right now. And my A-school is 81 days long. So I should graduate mid april. We did our individual photos today as well as t-shirts for our division.
December 20
So there is TSP plan which is a thrift saving plan which is kind of like a saving account for us. And so i am able to choose how much we put in. So as of right now just 1%.
So during his time gone I have gotten a total of 4 phone calls. The first one was when he first got there and it was about 30 second long. And the next phone call was about 8 minutes long and that is because the guys in his division kept goofing off or messing up so minutes got taken away. And then he got another phone call that was about 40 minutes long which was really nice. And then this last one was on Christmas Eve and that was almost an hour long phone call. but poor him two kids from his group decided to try to get on the computers so that means that most likely they had to do IT that day or this coming week when they are out of holiday mode again. So that is all I have on updates right now. I get to see him January 8th which I can't wait for and neither can he. Hopefully once he can get a computer and stuff he will be able to update this and do a better job at it since he will know more of what he is talking about.
~Wifey
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
NuSkin issues given to Jeff (SOS liason)
To whom it may concern;
In the course of the past 5 months there have been several “alarms” that have gone off in my head, situations that need to be taken care of due to safety, policy, and awareness. The first may seem like a small issue unless you’re the person it affects.
Not two months ago NuSkin hired a person (woman, can’t remember her name) to go over “workspace ergonomics” which she described (paraphrased) as “changing the workplace to match what the body can do”. Included in that was finding ways to lift boxes so you don’t hit your knees into objects, or twist at the waist. Unfortunately due to the design of the rollers in shipping that lead in to the UPS trucks it’s impossible to lift the boxes (which in my time working there weighed up to 50 pounds) without either twisting at the waist or banging your knees in to the rollers. They need to be higher, probably close to 6 inches higher, and the wheels need to be recessed underneath rather than sticking out so they are no longer a tripping hazard.
Secondly. There is a fan, which now has been fixed after Directly speaking with Cliff (maintenance) about it. It had a short, insulation was coming out of it at the switch and if you touched the top of the switch it would shock you. There are other fans which have insulation coming out of their power cord. Is that not an OSHA worthy issue? Not to mention on the 3 occasions upon which I was shocked neither Danny or Gail sent me up to talk with Jeff (as I was an SOS Associate) to have an incident form filled out. Also, the last time I heard of a person being shocked in the workplace (and it was a small appliance, a blender mind you, lower voltage than the heavy duty fans in shipping) they were made to go get an EKG (I think I’ve heard them also called EEG or perhaps ECG), on the employer. This is due to the electrical shock having the ability even at a low voltage to cause the rhythm of the heart no longer beat as it should, and they have to check for irregularity afterwards. You have insurance to cover for this, to prevent lawsuits if it’s your policy to have such testing be done on employees when they are involved in a workplace incident where they are shocked I suggest you follow it to avoid issues with OSHA as well as the Utah Department of Safety.
Thirdly. While working in packaging (above double check) it’s the work practice that when there are “tw-8 masters” that are empty that you toss them over the side and the person working in “the corner” then picks them up, fills them with tw-8’s, stacks them on a pallet, and either takes them to Picking or stores then on the North end of Double Check. On two occasions while upstairs working in Packaging I had looked over the edge, saw it was clear, let go of boxes and hit another employee on the head with said box as after I let go of the box the employee walked underneath. Danny and Marilou were the two this has happened to, I don’t think an incident report was ever filed with either, and on top of that speaking with some people more experienced in the workplace that it’s most likely a Utah Department of Safety work-hazard that if not corrected could shut that department down. In that same 5 month time period there was another person who’d been hit in the head by a “tw-8 master” though I can’t remember who. Mind you, gravity alone accelerates falling objects at (negating the minimal wind resistance, minimal relating to a falling cardboard box as compared to a falling feather) 9.8 meters a second squared. Many times boxes are Thrown down, with people having the opportunity to walk under at the time when they’re bring thrown. There needs to be a safety net to guide the boxes down and a way to clearly notify the person in the corner that boxes are being sent down to them, thereby eliminating chances for injury that may otherwise needlessly occur.
Fourth. Surveys about what an employee thinks is more important (pay, fellowship in the workplace, safe workplace, a good boss, a job you like, etc) is all fine and well. So are surveys about what you think about your supervisor, what do they do well, what do they need improvement on, what do you like about them, what do you not like about them, what would you change about them. Unless they’re given, received, and read by the supervisor. That creates in the employee an inability to answer truthfully, to have them written, delivered and subsequently read by the supervisor is a liability to say the least. In my own case I felt so uncomfortable with it that I didn’t fill it out or turn it in. I know several co-workers who were made equally uneasy by it, both SOS Associates as well as NuSkin Employees. One way I’ve seen it done is how UVU does it. The teacher explains the survey, then asks for a volunteer who when the teacher leaves will administer the surveys to the class, collect them, and take them to the department secretary. Never at any point does the instructor see the actual paper copies, it’s deciphered, filtered, and completely confidential. An example of what NuSkin may consider doing (as uncomfortable work situations of this sort Can and Should be reported to certain agencies it’s often better to not leave things like this to chance)is to have HR administer the survey while the supervisor is away, process the information, and return with a summary of recommendations based on the information received by the employees. Anyone who sees the surveys from an employee and is their superior of any form (team lead, supervisor, manager, etc.) has the possibility of making a person feel unable to answer truthfully due to possibility of it affecting their employment. I couldn’t say anything about how poorly Gail makes certain decisions and rightly hand the paper directly to her where she would know it was me, let alone hand written where she would read it and recognize my hand writing or speaking style. It’s not good business practice.
Lastly. Some time ago an employee was fired. Though there were other reasons it seemed the main was because she’d slapped (playfully mind you) two other men, one SOS Associate and a NuSkin Employee, Bob (Symph….can’t spell it). Bob has been at NuSkin for 14+ years and to Gail and Danny seems to be something of a mascot. If the reason Kedra Bullock was fired was listed primarily as for slapping those two playfully it should be known that on one occasion Bob pinched her to the point of leaving a half-dollar sized bruise. He did the same with Kaiya while she was working at NuSkin this summer. More recently (Wednesday October 28th) Bob forcefully grabbed Marilou’s wrist in the break room looking for a 8” lunch container he thought would be underneath her 2” wrist. Then he did the same to me. In the real world people get fired for things like that. That’s a liability no employer can afford. At the rate of being there 14+ years he’s not become any form of management either? Not become a team lead or a supervisor? That’s not an investment for NuSkin, that’s complacency that breeds bad work ethic. I’m leaving for Navy Boot Camp Wednesday November 4th. Were I still working there I would have filed a complaint. Marilou is afraid to report this as she’s afraid there’ll be backlash to her if she does where he’s both an Employee and has been at NuSkin for so long. How many times has he crossed the line like this in the past 14 years when in the past 5 months he’s had 4 occasions where Had he been reported any One of them would have had him fired in a different company.
“When men sin by silence when men should protest makes cowards of men.”
~Abraham Lincoln
You need to know and understand what is happening in your workplace in order for it to run smoothly, from how it’s looked (needed repairs not being fixed or reported in 5 months for example, just ask Cliff, the list of repairs needed in Shipping/Double Check/Packaging was a decently long list, And it’s items that had needed to be fixed since before I started in May) I highly doubt the right kind of communication about what’s going on has been happening. Little trainings here and there aren’t what Gail needs, an Associates or better in Business Management would get her started, but she’s not got enough experience to not be considered a liability. In my opinion, that I developed the past 5 months of knowing her.
This document has been posted on my Blog, and handed to two other persons should someone try to reprint/twist what I’ve said.
In the course of the past 5 months there have been several “alarms” that have gone off in my head, situations that need to be taken care of due to safety, policy, and awareness. The first may seem like a small issue unless you’re the person it affects.
Not two months ago NuSkin hired a person (woman, can’t remember her name) to go over “workspace ergonomics” which she described (paraphrased) as “changing the workplace to match what the body can do”. Included in that was finding ways to lift boxes so you don’t hit your knees into objects, or twist at the waist. Unfortunately due to the design of the rollers in shipping that lead in to the UPS trucks it’s impossible to lift the boxes (which in my time working there weighed up to 50 pounds) without either twisting at the waist or banging your knees in to the rollers. They need to be higher, probably close to 6 inches higher, and the wheels need to be recessed underneath rather than sticking out so they are no longer a tripping hazard.
Secondly. There is a fan, which now has been fixed after Directly speaking with Cliff (maintenance) about it. It had a short, insulation was coming out of it at the switch and if you touched the top of the switch it would shock you. There are other fans which have insulation coming out of their power cord. Is that not an OSHA worthy issue? Not to mention on the 3 occasions upon which I was shocked neither Danny or Gail sent me up to talk with Jeff (as I was an SOS Associate) to have an incident form filled out. Also, the last time I heard of a person being shocked in the workplace (and it was a small appliance, a blender mind you, lower voltage than the heavy duty fans in shipping) they were made to go get an EKG (I think I’ve heard them also called EEG or perhaps ECG), on the employer. This is due to the electrical shock having the ability even at a low voltage to cause the rhythm of the heart no longer beat as it should, and they have to check for irregularity afterwards. You have insurance to cover for this, to prevent lawsuits if it’s your policy to have such testing be done on employees when they are involved in a workplace incident where they are shocked I suggest you follow it to avoid issues with OSHA as well as the Utah Department of Safety.
Thirdly. While working in packaging (above double check) it’s the work practice that when there are “tw-8 masters” that are empty that you toss them over the side and the person working in “the corner” then picks them up, fills them with tw-8’s, stacks them on a pallet, and either takes them to Picking or stores then on the North end of Double Check. On two occasions while upstairs working in Packaging I had looked over the edge, saw it was clear, let go of boxes and hit another employee on the head with said box as after I let go of the box the employee walked underneath. Danny and Marilou were the two this has happened to, I don’t think an incident report was ever filed with either, and on top of that speaking with some people more experienced in the workplace that it’s most likely a Utah Department of Safety work-hazard that if not corrected could shut that department down. In that same 5 month time period there was another person who’d been hit in the head by a “tw-8 master” though I can’t remember who. Mind you, gravity alone accelerates falling objects at (negating the minimal wind resistance, minimal relating to a falling cardboard box as compared to a falling feather) 9.8 meters a second squared. Many times boxes are Thrown down, with people having the opportunity to walk under at the time when they’re bring thrown. There needs to be a safety net to guide the boxes down and a way to clearly notify the person in the corner that boxes are being sent down to them, thereby eliminating chances for injury that may otherwise needlessly occur.
Fourth. Surveys about what an employee thinks is more important (pay, fellowship in the workplace, safe workplace, a good boss, a job you like, etc) is all fine and well. So are surveys about what you think about your supervisor, what do they do well, what do they need improvement on, what do you like about them, what do you not like about them, what would you change about them. Unless they’re given, received, and read by the supervisor. That creates in the employee an inability to answer truthfully, to have them written, delivered and subsequently read by the supervisor is a liability to say the least. In my own case I felt so uncomfortable with it that I didn’t fill it out or turn it in. I know several co-workers who were made equally uneasy by it, both SOS Associates as well as NuSkin Employees. One way I’ve seen it done is how UVU does it. The teacher explains the survey, then asks for a volunteer who when the teacher leaves will administer the surveys to the class, collect them, and take them to the department secretary. Never at any point does the instructor see the actual paper copies, it’s deciphered, filtered, and completely confidential. An example of what NuSkin may consider doing (as uncomfortable work situations of this sort Can and Should be reported to certain agencies it’s often better to not leave things like this to chance)is to have HR administer the survey while the supervisor is away, process the information, and return with a summary of recommendations based on the information received by the employees. Anyone who sees the surveys from an employee and is their superior of any form (team lead, supervisor, manager, etc.) has the possibility of making a person feel unable to answer truthfully due to possibility of it affecting their employment. I couldn’t say anything about how poorly Gail makes certain decisions and rightly hand the paper directly to her where she would know it was me, let alone hand written where she would read it and recognize my hand writing or speaking style. It’s not good business practice.
Lastly. Some time ago an employee was fired. Though there were other reasons it seemed the main was because she’d slapped (playfully mind you) two other men, one SOS Associate and a NuSkin Employee, Bob (Symph….can’t spell it). Bob has been at NuSkin for 14+ years and to Gail and Danny seems to be something of a mascot. If the reason Kedra Bullock was fired was listed primarily as for slapping those two playfully it should be known that on one occasion Bob pinched her to the point of leaving a half-dollar sized bruise. He did the same with Kaiya while she was working at NuSkin this summer. More recently (Wednesday October 28th) Bob forcefully grabbed Marilou’s wrist in the break room looking for a 8” lunch container he thought would be underneath her 2” wrist. Then he did the same to me. In the real world people get fired for things like that. That’s a liability no employer can afford. At the rate of being there 14+ years he’s not become any form of management either? Not become a team lead or a supervisor? That’s not an investment for NuSkin, that’s complacency that breeds bad work ethic. I’m leaving for Navy Boot Camp Wednesday November 4th. Were I still working there I would have filed a complaint. Marilou is afraid to report this as she’s afraid there’ll be backlash to her if she does where he’s both an Employee and has been at NuSkin for so long. How many times has he crossed the line like this in the past 14 years when in the past 5 months he’s had 4 occasions where Had he been reported any One of them would have had him fired in a different company.
“When men sin by silence when men should protest makes cowards of men.”
~Abraham Lincoln
You need to know and understand what is happening in your workplace in order for it to run smoothly, from how it’s looked (needed repairs not being fixed or reported in 5 months for example, just ask Cliff, the list of repairs needed in Shipping/Double Check/Packaging was a decently long list, And it’s items that had needed to be fixed since before I started in May) I highly doubt the right kind of communication about what’s going on has been happening. Little trainings here and there aren’t what Gail needs, an Associates or better in Business Management would get her started, but she’s not got enough experience to not be considered a liability. In my opinion, that I developed the past 5 months of knowing her.
This document has been posted on my Blog, and handed to two other persons should someone try to reprint/twist what I’ve said.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Dumb Al Gore
Regarding reports on global warming or cooling trends that are being proven in the last 130 years or in some cases the last 11 years.
Studies encompassing less than a minimum of 1,000 years don't hold up in geological court. Geologically we see movement much slower than our small life spans can show, with that we rely on the things we learn from the earth. If you go back over the past 100,000 years of the earth you'd find roughly every 10,000 years there's a cooling trend followed by a heating trend, which oddly is followed by a cooling trend. Oddly enough that's been going on since the earths creation. Go figure, you'd almost think the earth was doing just exactly what it was supposed to be doing...
Studies encompassing less than a minimum of 1,000 years don't hold up in geological court. Geologically we see movement much slower than our small life spans can show, with that we rely on the things we learn from the earth. If you go back over the past 100,000 years of the earth you'd find roughly every 10,000 years there's a cooling trend followed by a heating trend, which oddly is followed by a cooling trend. Oddly enough that's been going on since the earths creation. Go figure, you'd almost think the earth was doing just exactly what it was supposed to be doing...
Monday, October 19, 2009
Yay for Chinese Effeciency,
My delivery wasn't expected until Wednesday (placed the order last tuesday, said it'd take 5-7 days to process the order, not to mention build it, and ship it...) CN is China. At the bottom is the start of it's trip, it isn't scheduled to get here until Wednesday, but looks like my custom ZuneHD is gonna get here Monday!!!! :)
TriStar would still be looking at the order and seeing if they wanted the money from another job..... ROFLMAO!
Oct 19, 2009 12:35 AM
At dest sort facility
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Oct 18, 2009 8:58 PM
At local FedEx facility
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Oct 18, 2009 4:25 PM
Departed FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN
Oct 18, 2009 5:31 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN
Oct 17, 2009 8:38 PM
Departed FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK
Oct 17, 2009 8:45 PM
Int'l shipment release
ANCHORAGE, AK
Oct 17, 2009 11:45 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK
Oct 17, 2009 4:14 AM
Departed FedEx location
GUANGZHOU CN
Oct 16, 2009 11:21 PM
Departed FedEx location
GUANGZHOU CN
Oct 16, 2009 5:51 PM
Left FedEx origin facility
ZHUHAI CN
Oct 16, 2009 5:49 PM
Picked up
ZHUHAI CN
TriStar would still be looking at the order and seeing if they wanted the money from another job..... ROFLMAO!
Oct 19, 2009 12:35 AM
At dest sort facility
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Oct 18, 2009 8:58 PM
At local FedEx facility
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Oct 18, 2009 4:25 PM
Departed FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN
Oct 18, 2009 5:31 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN
Oct 17, 2009 8:38 PM
Departed FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK
Oct 17, 2009 8:45 PM
Int'l shipment release
ANCHORAGE, AK
Oct 17, 2009 11:45 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK
Oct 17, 2009 4:14 AM
Departed FedEx location
GUANGZHOU CN
Oct 16, 2009 11:21 PM
Departed FedEx location
GUANGZHOU CN
Oct 16, 2009 5:51 PM
Left FedEx origin facility
ZHUHAI CN
Oct 16, 2009 5:49 PM
Picked up
ZHUHAI CN
Sunday, October 18, 2009
mmmmm, greasy
So saturday I didn't have any plans really, I got up with my wife, took her to work, came home, fell asleep in the chair I'm in right now then when I woke up the sun was working on creeping over the mountains peeking into the valley and I went for a 3 mile run. I got home from that, helped my mom-in-law by helping my dad-in-law move a large tub from just outside the stable in the back into the back of the suburban then helped move a several-hundred-pound-bench over so it was by a stable wall 30 feet away from where it was sitting... dad-in-law couldn't lift one end by himself so he refused that I move it by myself though I was moving it just fine by lifting one end, rotating that end to being further over and repeating the process. So, he intervened, so we lifted an end together (really it felt to me like I was lifting the same as before so I'm not sure how much he was helping but it made him feel better so whatever...) then began again the process I'd previously started...but under his direction.
By the time we'd finished with that it was nearly 11, I still needed to shower then I was going to try to play catch (with a football) with one of my niece's who'd asked me to a few days prior before catching G.I. Joe with a nephew (wifey was working so I could go to a movie she was apprehensive about going to previously....) and the movie turned out to be much more awesome and impressive than I'd been expecting, I was very happy with it and can't wait to buy it on BluRay as I expect nothing less than complete awesomeness from it... :)
During the movie I missed two phone calls, I checked the voicemails when I got out, one was my wife letting me know they were going to have her work two more extra hours beyond the 8 extra that she was working that day, the other voice mail was my nephews mother asking me to help fix her car when I got back, the universal belt had died on her minivan and needed replacing. Well, when I got there I realized it hadn't died but it had shredded half way through and had also slipped off the pullies. Within two minutes of being there my sister-in-law told me that she was taking my car to pick up her daughter (who was at tennis practice and I had passed by where she was when I was on my way over to their place coming back from the movie) and that she'd buy a new universal belt on the way back. She came back (still not having asked to use my car) with the windows down and locked the doors but left the windows down and kept MY keys! (mind you there's a several-hundred-dollar CD player in the car with a USB Jump drive attached to it with 9 gigs of my music on it, not to mention a not-cheap mp3 player in the center console as well as other items like a Flip recorder, my indestructible point and shoot camera and some other items I'd like to not lose at a thiefs whim)..... I didn't know she'd left the windows down as I was laying under her minivan trying to figure out the configuration of how the belt goes on the pulleys with the old-broken belt.
5 months ago I replaced the positive power wire (which had been roughly attached when it had broken nearly 6 months prior but had completely been forgotten about) and we'd searched high and low for where the starter motor was so I wouldn't have to trace the power wire all the way through the engine compartment.... We couldn't find it though so I ended up having to cut through 8 feet of wire wrapping to open up where the power wire was (bundled up with more than a dozen other wires courtesy of Plymouth thereby making it impossible to trace without cutting open the wrapping no less than every six inches). After I found how to put the belt on, assuming there was only one configuration that would leave little to no slack in the line, but without knowing how to create enough slack in the line to actually put the belt on the pulleys it was impossible to complete the job. Total time at this point was 3 hours. The previous time working on the power wire took 8 hours because of having to find for myself exactly how everything went...and jump starting the car because the battery had died... not to mention I did this in the dark, though the sun was still out the whole time I was working on it most recently, Very, VERrrrry fortunately.
So this time I start to send my sister-in-law out to pick up a Chilton's manual for the minivan so that I can have the mechanics-advice I need without going to a mechanic and paying to get it done... While she starts looking (including trying to call her husband who's out in Georgia at the moment) my wife calls asking me to pick her up (I still haven't remotely finished with the universal belt, nor have I gotten my keys back though they'd been back on the premises for 45 minutes at this point) so I told her to call our sister-in-law to pick her up in Our car (when she picked my wife up she didn't relinquish the drivers seat to my wife which ticked us both off that much more....). Just before she left to pick my wife up though she found the manual her husband had bought for the 98 plymouth minivan some 8-9 years prior, low and behold it's the very brand I was hoping for, Chilton. So within minutes of looking in it I've located the diagram for the universal belt on the pulleys and confirmed they're to be in the same configuration I had deduced while under the van (remember I couldn't just look at it when I first got there to find out how it was done because the belt had fully fallen off...) and the only pulley that could possibly have a pivot (which I'd gone as far to trying to move as putting a rod against it and pushing until I was lifting myself off the ground...) was the very same pulley that's supposed to pivot, clockwise (like I'd deduced) only they said to "turn it clockwise to release dynamic tension".
To me a statement like "turn pulley clockwise to release dynamic tension" means spin the blasted thing to the right and it'll open up the tension so you can put the belt on... No, turns out it means get a wrench on the bolt (like I thought we were going to have to do but I don't know where tools are at their place and I haven't had tools in my car for a year and a half now...) and pull it toward the bumper as hard as you can while someone not physically strained from holding the dynamic tension back puts the belt in to place... This is where you find out it Does matter which pulley gets the belt on it last as some Rrrrrreallllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy don't want to get it last, but a few tries (12 or 20 is more like it) later we've got the belt on, moments before we get the belt on though my sister-in-law says to me and her son (that I'd gone to the movie with earlier, he's been helping me this whole time) that we should just stop and she'll take it in to a mechanic on monday... (next time tell me "hey the van broke can you pick up my daughter and I'll get the van fixed monday...? lol) but we got it finished, she started up the engine and it didn't even slip off! I just had black arms. from fingernail to beyond my elbows was literally black on almost every square inch.......... Apparently (as I found out while i was under there) they're burning oil, leaking oil, leaking anti-freeze and haven't had an undercarriage wash in Years, their spacing is off on their spark plugs so oil is leaking out of those sockets and overall they need a tune-up on their van.
But we got it done
I didn't swear
And my nephew got a chance to learn how to fix a car, and realized why he doesn't want a vehicle that has no space to manuever his hands in while working on them... All in all a good 3.5 hours spent. :)
plus we got a full tank of gas, dinner, and a loaf of banana chocolate-chip bread, which combined to all equalize the other issues faced while trying to fix the blasted thing, lol.
So when you hear your vehicle have a slapping sound coming from the engine of your car, pull over immediately, cut the shredded parts off, and MEMORIZE how the belt goes over the pulleys, go to the nearest auto parts store and buy the best belt you can for your vehicle (the better you get the less likely you'll replace it again soon) and if you don't have a Chilton manual for your vehicle pick it up while you're at the parts store... Haynes will do too but Chilton seems to do a better and more in-depth job of taking your car apart and putting it back together... Then go home and use a wrench and loosen the line, remove the old belt, put the new one, and if you do it the right way with the right instructions and don't have to wait for parts to arrive or a spare hand then it should only take 20-30 minutes, including wash up... fun fun fun!
By the time we'd finished with that it was nearly 11, I still needed to shower then I was going to try to play catch (with a football) with one of my niece's who'd asked me to a few days prior before catching G.I. Joe with a nephew (wifey was working so I could go to a movie she was apprehensive about going to previously....) and the movie turned out to be much more awesome and impressive than I'd been expecting, I was very happy with it and can't wait to buy it on BluRay as I expect nothing less than complete awesomeness from it... :)
During the movie I missed two phone calls, I checked the voicemails when I got out, one was my wife letting me know they were going to have her work two more extra hours beyond the 8 extra that she was working that day, the other voice mail was my nephews mother asking me to help fix her car when I got back, the universal belt had died on her minivan and needed replacing. Well, when I got there I realized it hadn't died but it had shredded half way through and had also slipped off the pullies. Within two minutes of being there my sister-in-law told me that she was taking my car to pick up her daughter (who was at tennis practice and I had passed by where she was when I was on my way over to their place coming back from the movie) and that she'd buy a new universal belt on the way back. She came back (still not having asked to use my car) with the windows down and locked the doors but left the windows down and kept MY keys! (mind you there's a several-hundred-dollar CD player in the car with a USB Jump drive attached to it with 9 gigs of my music on it, not to mention a not-cheap mp3 player in the center console as well as other items like a Flip recorder, my indestructible point and shoot camera and some other items I'd like to not lose at a thiefs whim)..... I didn't know she'd left the windows down as I was laying under her minivan trying to figure out the configuration of how the belt goes on the pulleys with the old-broken belt.
5 months ago I replaced the positive power wire (which had been roughly attached when it had broken nearly 6 months prior but had completely been forgotten about) and we'd searched high and low for where the starter motor was so I wouldn't have to trace the power wire all the way through the engine compartment.... We couldn't find it though so I ended up having to cut through 8 feet of wire wrapping to open up where the power wire was (bundled up with more than a dozen other wires courtesy of Plymouth thereby making it impossible to trace without cutting open the wrapping no less than every six inches). After I found how to put the belt on, assuming there was only one configuration that would leave little to no slack in the line, but without knowing how to create enough slack in the line to actually put the belt on the pulleys it was impossible to complete the job. Total time at this point was 3 hours. The previous time working on the power wire took 8 hours because of having to find for myself exactly how everything went...and jump starting the car because the battery had died... not to mention I did this in the dark, though the sun was still out the whole time I was working on it most recently, Very, VERrrrry fortunately.
So this time I start to send my sister-in-law out to pick up a Chilton's manual for the minivan so that I can have the mechanics-advice I need without going to a mechanic and paying to get it done... While she starts looking (including trying to call her husband who's out in Georgia at the moment) my wife calls asking me to pick her up (I still haven't remotely finished with the universal belt, nor have I gotten my keys back though they'd been back on the premises for 45 minutes at this point) so I told her to call our sister-in-law to pick her up in Our car (when she picked my wife up she didn't relinquish the drivers seat to my wife which ticked us both off that much more....). Just before she left to pick my wife up though she found the manual her husband had bought for the 98 plymouth minivan some 8-9 years prior, low and behold it's the very brand I was hoping for, Chilton. So within minutes of looking in it I've located the diagram for the universal belt on the pulleys and confirmed they're to be in the same configuration I had deduced while under the van (remember I couldn't just look at it when I first got there to find out how it was done because the belt had fully fallen off...) and the only pulley that could possibly have a pivot (which I'd gone as far to trying to move as putting a rod against it and pushing until I was lifting myself off the ground...) was the very same pulley that's supposed to pivot, clockwise (like I'd deduced) only they said to "turn it clockwise to release dynamic tension".
To me a statement like "turn pulley clockwise to release dynamic tension" means spin the blasted thing to the right and it'll open up the tension so you can put the belt on... No, turns out it means get a wrench on the bolt (like I thought we were going to have to do but I don't know where tools are at their place and I haven't had tools in my car for a year and a half now...) and pull it toward the bumper as hard as you can while someone not physically strained from holding the dynamic tension back puts the belt in to place... This is where you find out it Does matter which pulley gets the belt on it last as some Rrrrrreallllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy don't want to get it last, but a few tries (12 or 20 is more like it) later we've got the belt on, moments before we get the belt on though my sister-in-law says to me and her son (that I'd gone to the movie with earlier, he's been helping me this whole time) that we should just stop and she'll take it in to a mechanic on monday... (next time tell me "hey the van broke can you pick up my daughter and I'll get the van fixed monday...? lol) but we got it finished, she started up the engine and it didn't even slip off! I just had black arms. from fingernail to beyond my elbows was literally black on almost every square inch.......... Apparently (as I found out while i was under there) they're burning oil, leaking oil, leaking anti-freeze and haven't had an undercarriage wash in Years, their spacing is off on their spark plugs so oil is leaking out of those sockets and overall they need a tune-up on their van.
But we got it done
I didn't swear
And my nephew got a chance to learn how to fix a car, and realized why he doesn't want a vehicle that has no space to manuever his hands in while working on them... All in all a good 3.5 hours spent. :)
plus we got a full tank of gas, dinner, and a loaf of banana chocolate-chip bread, which combined to all equalize the other issues faced while trying to fix the blasted thing, lol.
So when you hear your vehicle have a slapping sound coming from the engine of your car, pull over immediately, cut the shredded parts off, and MEMORIZE how the belt goes over the pulleys, go to the nearest auto parts store and buy the best belt you can for your vehicle (the better you get the less likely you'll replace it again soon) and if you don't have a Chilton manual for your vehicle pick it up while you're at the parts store... Haynes will do too but Chilton seems to do a better and more in-depth job of taking your car apart and putting it back together... Then go home and use a wrench and loosen the line, remove the old belt, put the new one, and if you do it the right way with the right instructions and don't have to wait for parts to arrive or a spare hand then it should only take 20-30 minutes, including wash up... fun fun fun!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Advice for Navy Recruits pre-bootcamp
Get to the front of the line when you get off the bus. Getting there last and being on P-hold because your division isnt full sucks. Big time.
When they tell you to take your debit card, money and ID out of your wallet and put it in your sock - KEEP the wallet. its ok. especially if your voided check (for pay) is in it. Just put the wallet in the sock.
Make sure your shoes fit. Dont just deal with it if they dont fit right. You'll regret it.
Try to get a leadership role. Theres a lot, even just a section leader - And excel at it. It helps stand out in a good way.
BE QUIET! talking about anything ill get you IT
Actually... Ballard said it best. Do what your told and dont talk and you'll do fine. He's right.
Dont go to the Dr unless you have to. you miss a lot each time and too many times you could get set back. But dont not go if you're really sick. Go. just use it wisely.
Run 1.5mils w/o stopping NO - before you get to bc. DONT WALK. Actually get used to running 20 mins w/o stopping too. trust me.
Learn to march now. Seriously.
Get used to drinking at least 8 liters of water a day. Now. The more the better.
The food is surprisingly good. Its easy to over eat. Once your out of P-days dont let yourself overeat. No one wants to see it later.
Showers/toilet are community. get used to it.
Be Positive.
Dont take things too personally. Even if you're yelled at for something you didnt do. One team, one fight.
SLEEP. ok fine... sneak writing a quick 30min letter then SLEEP. Sleep Sleep SLEEP. dont stay up all night chatting with the guys.
Practice shaving in 2mins or less
Practice standing absolutely still now... for at least an hour
Dont lock your knees.
Stop talking ith your hands NOW
I know the training guide is big and boring but for the love of everything you value STUDY it.
When they tell you to take your debit card, money and ID out of your wallet and put it in your sock - KEEP the wallet. its ok. especially if your voided check (for pay) is in it. Just put the wallet in the sock.
Make sure your shoes fit. Dont just deal with it if they dont fit right. You'll regret it.
Try to get a leadership role. Theres a lot, even just a section leader - And excel at it. It helps stand out in a good way.
BE QUIET! talking about anything ill get you IT
Actually... Ballard said it best. Do what your told and dont talk and you'll do fine. He's right.
Dont go to the Dr unless you have to. you miss a lot each time and too many times you could get set back. But dont not go if you're really sick. Go. just use it wisely.
Run 1.5mils w/o stopping NO - before you get to bc. DONT WALK. Actually get used to running 20 mins w/o stopping too. trust me.
Learn to march now. Seriously.
Get used to drinking at least 8 liters of water a day. Now. The more the better.
The food is surprisingly good. Its easy to over eat. Once your out of P-days dont let yourself overeat. No one wants to see it later.
Showers/toilet are community. get used to it.
Be Positive.
Dont take things too personally. Even if you're yelled at for something you didnt do. One team, one fight.
SLEEP. ok fine... sneak writing a quick 30min letter then SLEEP. Sleep Sleep SLEEP. dont stay up all night chatting with the guys.
Practice shaving in 2mins or less
Practice standing absolutely still now... for at least an hour
Dont lock your knees.
Stop talking ith your hands NOW
I know the training guide is big and boring but for the love of everything you value STUDY it.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
DAR dar dar dar
A DAR is a form used to process a DEPper (a person in the Delayed Entry Program) from their current rate and ship date in to either an earlier ship date or an earlier ship date with a different rating. They come in very handy as many people in 2009 are finding themselves entering the armed forces and not going to Bootcamp right away but being able to get in under the banner of a position they don't want to hold, the DAR allows them to hopefully escape that before their first ship date approaches.
I found myself in the same shoes. Starting the process of going to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) Salt Lake (West Valley really....) back in March of 2009 I found that though my recruiter found me to be within weight range the doc's there didn't. It was May before I was able to go back up but when I Was able to be there again at the start of May I was found to be within tolerance to join the Navy, not necessarily the body fat percent required by the time I left bootcamp, but good enough to join. I was able to join that day, due to an influx of people trying to enter that day I was left entering a job field I didn't want and later than I really wanted, scheduled to enter RTC (Recruit Training Center, aka bootcamp) and was scheduled to leave in March 2010.
I applied my DAR with one recruiter, the paper work stayed on the desk, not to be completed but passed on to another. It seemed to take months, though days were only passing while I waited for something to be done. We realized there was other paperwork that could be done that would allow for the hopeful ensurance of a security clearance. Well, the paperwork was done but it still felt like everything was taking forever. By the time June had come and past I was beginning to lose hope in being sent out as anything other than Corpsman. Before August was ended it would seem that despite two chances of being shipped out luck was not to be in my favor and the waiting process remained, though by now there was time that my paperwork had been rushed through, my DAR had been processed, and if there were openings I would have had one.
Finally it seemed there was hope, after the Chief Selects (Petty Officer First Class's that were selected to be ranked up to Chief Petty Officer) had their pinning ceremony in Denver (for the local region) the current Chiefs serving at MEPS (who had all gone for part of the process of the Chief Selects process of ranking up) all came back on Thursday just last week, though they didn't go back to work until the next day. Oddly enough that was when I got my phone call. Four phone calls to be precise. Operations Specialist leaving November 4th.
The real point of the post....
I went to the temple that night with my wife as we'd planned to do that day, we went and as we entered my wife asked me if we should do Sealings, we'd not done it for a while and it also just Felt right, so we did. We proceded through the sealings, there was quite a group, 5 couples in a small room, we'd been one of two or three groups that actually had to wait before there was an availability to perform the sealings as there'd been a large amount of people who went to the temple that night. While others were performing ordinances my thoughts began to process all that had gone on in the prior months, all that I'd hoped to have happen, and all that would transpire.
It occured to me while I was sitting there, that those on the other side to some degree are very much in the same state that I was in from March through just this past week. Waiting for paperwork to process, hoping to have it done before the end of the week, hoping to receive their phone call, and hoping that their recruiters were still doing their work (in this case the recruiters are you and I, performing ancestral work in all its forms as well as vicarious work for those who've passed on before us) so far away from where they were, praying to not be forgotten.
I found myself in the same shoes. Starting the process of going to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) Salt Lake (West Valley really....) back in March of 2009 I found that though my recruiter found me to be within weight range the doc's there didn't. It was May before I was able to go back up but when I Was able to be there again at the start of May I was found to be within tolerance to join the Navy, not necessarily the body fat percent required by the time I left bootcamp, but good enough to join. I was able to join that day, due to an influx of people trying to enter that day I was left entering a job field I didn't want and later than I really wanted, scheduled to enter RTC (Recruit Training Center, aka bootcamp) and was scheduled to leave in March 2010.
I applied my DAR with one recruiter, the paper work stayed on the desk, not to be completed but passed on to another. It seemed to take months, though days were only passing while I waited for something to be done. We realized there was other paperwork that could be done that would allow for the hopeful ensurance of a security clearance. Well, the paperwork was done but it still felt like everything was taking forever. By the time June had come and past I was beginning to lose hope in being sent out as anything other than Corpsman. Before August was ended it would seem that despite two chances of being shipped out luck was not to be in my favor and the waiting process remained, though by now there was time that my paperwork had been rushed through, my DAR had been processed, and if there were openings I would have had one.
Finally it seemed there was hope, after the Chief Selects (Petty Officer First Class's that were selected to be ranked up to Chief Petty Officer) had their pinning ceremony in Denver (for the local region) the current Chiefs serving at MEPS (who had all gone for part of the process of the Chief Selects process of ranking up) all came back on Thursday just last week, though they didn't go back to work until the next day. Oddly enough that was when I got my phone call. Four phone calls to be precise. Operations Specialist leaving November 4th.
The real point of the post....
I went to the temple that night with my wife as we'd planned to do that day, we went and as we entered my wife asked me if we should do Sealings, we'd not done it for a while and it also just Felt right, so we did. We proceded through the sealings, there was quite a group, 5 couples in a small room, we'd been one of two or three groups that actually had to wait before there was an availability to perform the sealings as there'd been a large amount of people who went to the temple that night. While others were performing ordinances my thoughts began to process all that had gone on in the prior months, all that I'd hoped to have happen, and all that would transpire.
It occured to me while I was sitting there, that those on the other side to some degree are very much in the same state that I was in from March through just this past week. Waiting for paperwork to process, hoping to have it done before the end of the week, hoping to receive their phone call, and hoping that their recruiters were still doing their work (in this case the recruiters are you and I, performing ancestral work in all its forms as well as vicarious work for those who've passed on before us) so far away from where they were, praying to not be forgotten.
moldable
To be like a potters clay.
Have you ever worked with it? Felt it's stickiness holding to the creases in your skin, it's pliableness is there though it fights to some degree with rigidity as you mold a handle, or decorative piece for a side of a pot or dish. It resists in order to keep structure and it's ability to keep shape when formed allows it to become the finished product that is so desired by the sculptor.
The trick.
A potters wheel turns blindingly fast. Have you ever ridden on a merri-go-round? Most parks have had them removed long years past, but riding on them gives a sense of thrill and delight to the point of losing your breakfast as you spin controllably uncontrolled in a concentric circle, with bars to hold on to you can keep your form but at the same time the world feels as though it's spinning wildly out of control.
In order for the clay to be formed in to the desired shape it must first be spun wildly, although the clay thinks the world is spinning around it out of control and blindingly fast in the hands of the potter the clay moves slowly comparative and is easily molded, trimming up the sides shaping the odd shaped blob transfiguring it from it's earthly form and in to a shape more comely, refined, and cleansed. The process continues as the desired shape takes form, soon the process of trimming unwanted deformities or over thicknesses will ensue bringing with it a slightly slower pace betimes, then speeding back up and entering the process of smoothing, an abrasive (water) is applied to perfect both the outside and inside of the form, allowing for it to be fully removed of impurities so as to be prepared to dried, then dry fired, then to have a glaze applied to ultiumately reveal it's new found completeness.
If you should ever find yourself spinning wildly out of control just stop and think and ponder about which step in the process in your life you're at, and maybe it'll allow you to take a step back and observe yourself like the potter in your own process to the kiln.
Have you ever worked with it? Felt it's stickiness holding to the creases in your skin, it's pliableness is there though it fights to some degree with rigidity as you mold a handle, or decorative piece for a side of a pot or dish. It resists in order to keep structure and it's ability to keep shape when formed allows it to become the finished product that is so desired by the sculptor.
The trick.
A potters wheel turns blindingly fast. Have you ever ridden on a merri-go-round? Most parks have had them removed long years past, but riding on them gives a sense of thrill and delight to the point of losing your breakfast as you spin controllably uncontrolled in a concentric circle, with bars to hold on to you can keep your form but at the same time the world feels as though it's spinning wildly out of control.
In order for the clay to be formed in to the desired shape it must first be spun wildly, although the clay thinks the world is spinning around it out of control and blindingly fast in the hands of the potter the clay moves slowly comparative and is easily molded, trimming up the sides shaping the odd shaped blob transfiguring it from it's earthly form and in to a shape more comely, refined, and cleansed. The process continues as the desired shape takes form, soon the process of trimming unwanted deformities or over thicknesses will ensue bringing with it a slightly slower pace betimes, then speeding back up and entering the process of smoothing, an abrasive (water) is applied to perfect both the outside and inside of the form, allowing for it to be fully removed of impurities so as to be prepared to dried, then dry fired, then to have a glaze applied to ultiumately reveal it's new found completeness.
If you should ever find yourself spinning wildly out of control just stop and think and ponder about which step in the process in your life you're at, and maybe it'll allow you to take a step back and observe yourself like the potter in your own process to the kiln.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Interestingly boring paradox, simplly complex.
http://answers.yahoo.com/q2Y2t1c212BF9TAzIxMTUzMDA5ODgEc2VjA2ZwBHNsawN0b2RheXE-?qid=20090625164520AAgNZ4A
is where I found this, here is the paradox, below it is my response and below that is the response of the person who was chosen as the "best" answer so far as the person asking the question is concerned.
The Paradox: There is a village where the barber shaves all those and only those who do not shave themselves. Who shaves the barber?
My answer. Given the answer below I must say that One (of seemingly few) answer to this would be that the barber must have his body shave him however someone else must control the movements of his body so that in some sense it was someone else shaving him and in some other sense he was the only person who was allowed to shave those who couldn't shave themselves while still not shaving those who could. Because it would be someone elses motions in shaving him it wouldn't be his motions shaving him but because it was his hand and He Could shave it was therefore possible for someone else to use Their muscles to control His body while he involuntarily was shaved by his own self, ish. So, does it give a perfect solution? No, but in my opinion it isn't something worth making a paradox over, if a barber only shaved the people who didn't shave themselves (as opposed to couldn't) it would make it real-life as such no one would have Ever asked such a redundantly moronic question. Yes, I hope someone with a thesis who Wrote his/her thesis on this paradox reads this and is offended! =)
The response chosen on that particular site.
OK. take a deep breath and read this slowly, because it is very tricky. First two definitions:
def 1) All and only those who shave themselves = S
def 2) All people in the village, including the barber, are either members of S or members of not-S. there is no one in the village that is a member of both.
If the barber shaved himself then he would be a member of S.
If the barber does not shave himself then he would be a member of not-S.
A barber who must shave all and only not-S can not shave any S
The barber can not shave himself, because he would be shaving a member of S
if the barber is not a self shaver then he is a member of not-S
The barber must shave himself because he must shave all members of not-S
Thus he must both shave and not shave himself
This is the paradox.
No one else in the village can shave the barber because only the barber can shave members of not-S.
This is a variation of Russel's paradox, and there are several ways to solve, or attempts, to solve this depending on how it is interpreted. I'm not even going to attempt a solution here. Someone could, and probably has, written a doctoral thesis on the subject.
is where I found this, here is the paradox, below it is my response and below that is the response of the person who was chosen as the "best" answer so far as the person asking the question is concerned.
The Paradox: There is a village where the barber shaves all those and only those who do not shave themselves. Who shaves the barber?
My answer. Given the answer below I must say that One (of seemingly few) answer to this would be that the barber must have his body shave him however someone else must control the movements of his body so that in some sense it was someone else shaving him and in some other sense he was the only person who was allowed to shave those who couldn't shave themselves while still not shaving those who could. Because it would be someone elses motions in shaving him it wouldn't be his motions shaving him but because it was his hand and He Could shave it was therefore possible for someone else to use Their muscles to control His body while he involuntarily was shaved by his own self, ish. So, does it give a perfect solution? No, but in my opinion it isn't something worth making a paradox over, if a barber only shaved the people who didn't shave themselves (as opposed to couldn't) it would make it real-life as such no one would have Ever asked such a redundantly moronic question. Yes, I hope someone with a thesis who Wrote his/her thesis on this paradox reads this and is offended! =)
The response chosen on that particular site.
OK. take a deep breath and read this slowly, because it is very tricky. First two definitions:
def 1) All and only those who shave themselves = S
def 2) All people in the village, including the barber, are either members of S or members of not-S. there is no one in the village that is a member of both.
If the barber shaved himself then he would be a member of S.
If the barber does not shave himself then he would be a member of not-S.
A barber who must shave all and only not-S can not shave any S
The barber can not shave himself, because he would be shaving a member of S
if the barber is not a self shaver then he is a member of not-S
The barber must shave himself because he must shave all members of not-S
Thus he must both shave and not shave himself
This is the paradox.
No one else in the village can shave the barber because only the barber can shave members of not-S.
This is a variation of Russel's paradox, and there are several ways to solve, or attempts, to solve this depending on how it is interpreted. I'm not even going to attempt a solution here. Someone could, and probably has, written a doctoral thesis on the subject.
Monday, July 6, 2009
laws of physics: the ever changing?
From a senior level Chrysler person: Monday morning I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was David E. Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), an Engineer with 40+ years automotive experience, full Professor at the Univ. of Michigan. You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry news lately. Mr. Cole told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto industry. There have been many meetings where this very experienced automotive expert has had to listen to a newcomer to the industry; someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero business experience, zero finance experience, zero engineering experience, and apparently zero brains tell them how to run their business. Mr. Cole's favorite story is as follows: There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole. They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles, so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (A whole other topic). They were quoting BTU's of LNG and battery life they had looked up on some website. Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a trunk FULL of batteries, and a LNG tank as big as a car to make that happen. And that there were problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from... The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting here), "These laws of physics? Whose rules are those? We need to change that (while others wrote down the name of the law so they could look it up). We have the Congress, and the administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we are here, to fix these sort of issues."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Eggless Eggrolls
Confucious
Chicken
Egg Rolls
12 Count
here's the kicker
Wal-mart.
And they actually taste really good.
Egg Roll Filling: Cabbage, Chicken, Carrot, celery, onion, seasonings [soy flour, sugar, salt, dextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, dextrose, sesame oil, spice, soybean oil, sherry wine powder [(maltodextrin, sherry wine solids, sulfur dioxide), corn syrup solids], garlic powder, chicken flavor, fermented soybeans, wheat, lemon powder, mushroom powder, ginger, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate]. NO MSG ADDED - except for the small amount found naturally occuring in autolyzed yeast extract.
Crust: Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, salt, corn starch, potato starch, vinegar, soy lecithin, less than 0.1% sodium benzoate as preservative.
Fried in Vegetable oil.
I think certain people with allergies to eggs might just find they enjoy the egg rolls. ;)
Chicken
Egg Rolls
12 Count
here's the kicker
Wal-mart.
And they actually taste really good.
Egg Roll Filling: Cabbage, Chicken, Carrot, celery, onion, seasonings [soy flour, sugar, salt, dextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, dextrose, sesame oil, spice, soybean oil, sherry wine powder [(maltodextrin, sherry wine solids, sulfur dioxide), corn syrup solids], garlic powder, chicken flavor, fermented soybeans, wheat, lemon powder, mushroom powder, ginger, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate]. NO MSG ADDED - except for the small amount found naturally occuring in autolyzed yeast extract.
Crust: Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, salt, corn starch, potato starch, vinegar, soy lecithin, less than 0.1% sodium benzoate as preservative.
Fried in Vegetable oil.
I think certain people with allergies to eggs might just find they enjoy the egg rolls. ;)
Friday, May 22, 2009
Honest Paul
Stories within stories, wrapped around an idea in my head, and joys of memories and personal growths over the years.
I was working asphalt when I was given the nickname "honest paul". strike that, it was 7th grade P.E., I can recall being called that by my coach/instructor as he was asking if we'd done our stretches and push-ups/sit-ups, the kid who was supposed to get us doing it came out maybe a minute before the coach came out and got us into position. Coach came out and asked us if we'd stretched, etc., and everyone said yes except me. I said no, we hadn't. Needless to say he wasn't happy with everyone else, they weren't happy with me, but I was able to sleept that night.
Some years later, post high school and my second season into asphalt repair my foreman told me to tell the owner if asked that we had gassed up the night before and that we were already on the road to the job site. As we'd just pulled up I was gassing up while he went in to the gas station to grab some food, a drink, etc. The owner called, and I told him the truth, the foreman had asked me to lie and we hadn't done anything like we'd been instructed to and were more than an hour behind the schedule he thought we were on, which is the schedule our day was planned out with. Again I was called "Honest Paul" by the foreman with more than a hint of disdain during the remainder of my time with that company.
Can I lie? Yes, do I try not to? Yes. Especially when my honor is at stake.
"When men sin in silence when men should protest makes cowards of men." ~Abraham Lincoln
As a teen I was found to be both obnoxious and hot headed. Well, I'm still a little of both, but by and large there's dramatic improvement from my personal starting point, I say this from word of others, I'm still not happy with myself 100% but I know I'm closer than I've ever been in my adult life. My behavior drove people away. I thought it was because they didn't like Me, but the definition of a person goes beyond who they are and in to how they respond, and how they communicate (both transmitting and receiving).
It turned out I wasn't communicating what I really wanted to communicate. I would lash out, over react, and be furious over the dumbest things. I knew I wasn't happy but couldn't quite figure out why or how to change it. Perhaps I'm a tough love kind of guy, but I seem to recall mom saying to me that people didn't Want to be around me because of how I responded, because of how upset I would get, how I would respond, and that yes over all I was a good person but (this is my own metaphor following) even chocolate covered in enough cockroaches would drive Any person away. She was honest. Brutally and totally honest. Did it hurt? Yes. Absolutely. Was she right? Well, mothers aren't always right (No imperfect person is) but this time she hit the nail on the head, and it felt like it was hit by a sledge hammer. It hurt. Partly because how blunt she was about it, and more so because she was right, and there was no ifs ands or buts about it, she was right and the only way I could make things different would be if I changed. I had to change because I wanted to, because I had a drive a motivation leading me on to become something I wanted to see in the mirror, because I wanted to be able to fall asleep peacefully at night without quams or thoughts running through my head of what I'd done wrong and how to fix it, as with all things that aren't broken, if it ain't broken it don't need no fixin'. Yes, grammar issues intentional, and for your enjoyment, cause some times it's just more fun to say things the fun way.
Did I change? Well, I still am. It's an ongoing process, it always is and always will be until I don't have to think about it any more and it's just natural to respond in a calm collected manner when naturally I may want to scream and shout. It took someone being bitingly blunt, and my willingness to not only ask for help from those around me, but to accept that help as well and internalize the reality of fixing a real problem was my sole responsibility, and I was the one who would be accountable when all was said and done.
I was working asphalt when I was given the nickname "honest paul". strike that, it was 7th grade P.E., I can recall being called that by my coach/instructor as he was asking if we'd done our stretches and push-ups/sit-ups, the kid who was supposed to get us doing it came out maybe a minute before the coach came out and got us into position. Coach came out and asked us if we'd stretched, etc., and everyone said yes except me. I said no, we hadn't. Needless to say he wasn't happy with everyone else, they weren't happy with me, but I was able to sleept that night.
Some years later, post high school and my second season into asphalt repair my foreman told me to tell the owner if asked that we had gassed up the night before and that we were already on the road to the job site. As we'd just pulled up I was gassing up while he went in to the gas station to grab some food, a drink, etc. The owner called, and I told him the truth, the foreman had asked me to lie and we hadn't done anything like we'd been instructed to and were more than an hour behind the schedule he thought we were on, which is the schedule our day was planned out with. Again I was called "Honest Paul" by the foreman with more than a hint of disdain during the remainder of my time with that company.
Can I lie? Yes, do I try not to? Yes. Especially when my honor is at stake.
"When men sin in silence when men should protest makes cowards of men." ~Abraham Lincoln
As a teen I was found to be both obnoxious and hot headed. Well, I'm still a little of both, but by and large there's dramatic improvement from my personal starting point, I say this from word of others, I'm still not happy with myself 100% but I know I'm closer than I've ever been in my adult life. My behavior drove people away. I thought it was because they didn't like Me, but the definition of a person goes beyond who they are and in to how they respond, and how they communicate (both transmitting and receiving).
It turned out I wasn't communicating what I really wanted to communicate. I would lash out, over react, and be furious over the dumbest things. I knew I wasn't happy but couldn't quite figure out why or how to change it. Perhaps I'm a tough love kind of guy, but I seem to recall mom saying to me that people didn't Want to be around me because of how I responded, because of how upset I would get, how I would respond, and that yes over all I was a good person but (this is my own metaphor following) even chocolate covered in enough cockroaches would drive Any person away. She was honest. Brutally and totally honest. Did it hurt? Yes. Absolutely. Was she right? Well, mothers aren't always right (No imperfect person is) but this time she hit the nail on the head, and it felt like it was hit by a sledge hammer. It hurt. Partly because how blunt she was about it, and more so because she was right, and there was no ifs ands or buts about it, she was right and the only way I could make things different would be if I changed. I had to change because I wanted to, because I had a drive a motivation leading me on to become something I wanted to see in the mirror, because I wanted to be able to fall asleep peacefully at night without quams or thoughts running through my head of what I'd done wrong and how to fix it, as with all things that aren't broken, if it ain't broken it don't need no fixin'. Yes, grammar issues intentional, and for your enjoyment, cause some times it's just more fun to say things the fun way.
Did I change? Well, I still am. It's an ongoing process, it always is and always will be until I don't have to think about it any more and it's just natural to respond in a calm collected manner when naturally I may want to scream and shout. It took someone being bitingly blunt, and my willingness to not only ask for help from those around me, but to accept that help as well and internalize the reality of fixing a real problem was my sole responsibility, and I was the one who would be accountable when all was said and done.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
So I said to him, "Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, and you ain't Abe Lincoln."
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
......Abraham Lincoln
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
......Abraham Lincoln
Saturday, May 16, 2009
11 General Orders
1. To take charge of this post and all government property in view.
2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert, and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.
3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guard house than my own.
5. To quit my post only when porperly relieved.
6. To receive, obey and pass on to the sentry who relieves me, all orders from the Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck, and Officers and Petty Officers of the Watch only.
7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. To call the Officer of the Deck in any case not covered by instructions.
10. To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.
11. To be especially watchful at night, and, during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.
2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert, and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.
3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guard house than my own.
5. To quit my post only when porperly relieved.
6. To receive, obey and pass on to the sentry who relieves me, all orders from the Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck, and Officers and Petty Officers of the Watch only.
7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. To call the Officer of the Deck in any case not covered by instructions.
10. To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.
11. To be especially watchful at night, and, during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.
Anchors Aweigh
(verse one)
Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course, So vicious foe steer shy-y-y.
Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!
(verse two)
Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh,
Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-y.
Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more. Here's wishing you a happy voyage home.
Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course, So vicious foe steer shy-y-y.
Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!
(verse two)
Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh,
Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-y.
Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more. Here's wishing you a happy voyage home.
The Sailor's Creed
I am a United States sailor.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I proudly serve my country's Navy combat team with Honor, Courage and Commitment.
I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I proudly serve my country's Navy combat team with Honor, Courage and Commitment.
I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.
Navy Mission
The mission of the United States Navy is to protect and defend the right of the United States and our allies to move freely on the oceans and to protect our country against her enemies.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
There has been doubt as of recent
I thought I would relinquish the doubt...
Does God get angry?
Is he the type of person with whom you may shudder and fear?
Does he get upset?
think on this and how often you may hear this reading the new testament...
"With whom I the Lord am well pleased"
What does that say about the people he's not "well pleased" with?
Well, by it self not much, but if you're LDS or have an LDS bible on hand turn to the topical guide and look up "please"
In it you'll find listings upon listings of "please" and times when the Lord was pleased with people and maybe 25% of them are times when he Isn't well pleased. Leave it to modern revelation to remove any doubt from what is meant by that.
D&C (Doctrine & Covenants) 63:11 reads:
"Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works, for without faith no man pleaseth God; and with whom God is angry he is not well pleased; wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in wrath unto their condemnation."
"with whom God is ANGRY he is NOT WELL PLEASED..."
Does that mean he is angry with anyone he is not well pleased with? Not necessarily perhaps, but it does mean he does get angry.
Enough to the point that like Laman and Lemuel experienced he will allow a person to have visions and manifestations to their condemnation. What happens when a person has visions and manifestations of to that degree and they still turn away? outter darkness anyone?
Does God get angry?
Is he the type of person with whom you may shudder and fear?
Does he get upset?
think on this and how often you may hear this reading the new testament...
"With whom I the Lord am well pleased"
What does that say about the people he's not "well pleased" with?
Well, by it self not much, but if you're LDS or have an LDS bible on hand turn to the topical guide and look up "please"
In it you'll find listings upon listings of "please" and times when the Lord was pleased with people and maybe 25% of them are times when he Isn't well pleased. Leave it to modern revelation to remove any doubt from what is meant by that.
D&C (Doctrine & Covenants) 63:11 reads:
"Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works, for without faith no man pleaseth God; and with whom God is angry he is not well pleased; wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in wrath unto their condemnation."
"with whom God is ANGRY he is NOT WELL PLEASED..."
Does that mean he is angry with anyone he is not well pleased with? Not necessarily perhaps, but it does mean he does get angry.
Enough to the point that like Laman and Lemuel experienced he will allow a person to have visions and manifestations to their condemnation. What happens when a person has visions and manifestations of to that degree and they still turn away? outter darkness anyone?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Curioser...
There are some things in life I appreciate that I think make me odd, and some things in life that absolutely drive me nuts and I don't care what others think about how those things drive me nuts.
I appreciate people who do things well, whatever it is they're trained in if they do it well then I have a great appreciation for them, assuming it's a positive thing that they do.
I disdain those who try to do something because they're intrested in it and play it off like they're professional in it.
Canon does extremely well at making cameras, Nikon as well (yeah, bet you didn't expect me to put a plug in for a camera I prefer not shooting on but honestly I'd rather shoot on a Nikon than an olympus and a canon rather than a nikon and a mamiya over a canon and a linhof over a mamiya).
These two companies along with their uppers do very good at making cameras that do so much and make the life of the photographer much easier. The trouble is that it makes it so easy that some people who think they have the abilities of a good photographer but really don't, well, it makes them think they're professional. There are several people I know who have companies and extremely expensive gear and absolutely no education in photography, I returned a camera to someone and had used it in Manual when the person is used to using it in an automated mode...The person wasn't sure what to do with it really.
Photographers with companies who don't know what a histogram is, how to meter, how to expose, how to adjust depth of field, how to google "salt prints", aren't photographers, they're people with expensive cameras. A camera is no more a photographer than a person is a photographer, software isn't a photographer, neither is film (digital or analog). A photographer is someone with a creative eye and a scientific side that bends light to their own wants and needs. A photographer is someone who sees something how it could be, makes it that, and then makes it look even better (IN CAMERA!) than people thought it could look and then does very minor adjustments in either the digital or analog darkroom (for those who are still scratching their heads a digital dark room is photoshop, an analog dark room is what Ansel Adams worked in laboring for hours and days, at times even weeks before getting the one perfect print from a particular negative).
Those who photograph and charge for their photography and have no education in it and show no level of professionalism in the realm of the quality of their original captured images down the names of photographers that deserve better recognition from having earned it and flood the market with photographs that are undeserving of the price attached.
Sorry
That's been building for a while.
I appreciate people who do things well, whatever it is they're trained in if they do it well then I have a great appreciation for them, assuming it's a positive thing that they do.
I disdain those who try to do something because they're intrested in it and play it off like they're professional in it.
Canon does extremely well at making cameras, Nikon as well (yeah, bet you didn't expect me to put a plug in for a camera I prefer not shooting on but honestly I'd rather shoot on a Nikon than an olympus and a canon rather than a nikon and a mamiya over a canon and a linhof over a mamiya).
These two companies along with their uppers do very good at making cameras that do so much and make the life of the photographer much easier. The trouble is that it makes it so easy that some people who think they have the abilities of a good photographer but really don't, well, it makes them think they're professional. There are several people I know who have companies and extremely expensive gear and absolutely no education in photography, I returned a camera to someone and had used it in Manual when the person is used to using it in an automated mode...The person wasn't sure what to do with it really.
Photographers with companies who don't know what a histogram is, how to meter, how to expose, how to adjust depth of field, how to google "salt prints", aren't photographers, they're people with expensive cameras. A camera is no more a photographer than a person is a photographer, software isn't a photographer, neither is film (digital or analog). A photographer is someone with a creative eye and a scientific side that bends light to their own wants and needs. A photographer is someone who sees something how it could be, makes it that, and then makes it look even better (IN CAMERA!) than people thought it could look and then does very minor adjustments in either the digital or analog darkroom (for those who are still scratching their heads a digital dark room is photoshop, an analog dark room is what Ansel Adams worked in laboring for hours and days, at times even weeks before getting the one perfect print from a particular negative).
Those who photograph and charge for their photography and have no education in it and show no level of professionalism in the realm of the quality of their original captured images down the names of photographers that deserve better recognition from having earned it and flood the market with photographs that are undeserving of the price attached.
Sorry
That's been building for a while.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
I wish against wish
I hope against hope
that people would drop the AirForce bit and let me focus on Navy, it's still what feels right and no amount of persuasion will change the fact of what my prayers have led me to...
Unfortunately no one getting this is one of the people I'm referring to and I can't mention it to the people who I'm thinking of because there's a strong possibility we might be able to clear up the issue with my lack ot security clearance if I can play along with them for a bit.
Oh the politics of family life.
that people would drop the AirForce bit and let me focus on Navy, it's still what feels right and no amount of persuasion will change the fact of what my prayers have led me to...
Unfortunately no one getting this is one of the people I'm referring to and I can't mention it to the people who I'm thinking of because there's a strong possibility we might be able to clear up the issue with my lack ot security clearance if I can play along with them for a bit.
Oh the politics of family life.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Math does work out after all
So, two of the smartest people I know couldn't figure it out, but it's ok they're better with english anyway ;)
I figured it out though. You do need both the weight and the volume to figure it out.
First each gallon weighs 7 lbs, so you take 42 gallons and multiply it by 7lbs. = 294lbs
The tricky part is that it says each cubic foot is 52lbs. They're trying to trick you into associating cubic feet with lbs, but really they're two different variables being used for a conversion from one way of measuring a material like converting a persons pay check into hours and hourly rate over the course of a large time frame (large time frame being the 42 gallon barrel).
So, what's this mean? A 42 gallon barrel weighs 294lbs, but it's cubic feet is a percentage of that weight. 294/52, as it takes 52 lbs of material to compose 1 cu ft the correct answer is 5.7 as the math turns out the whole number is: 5.653846153846153846153846153846(infinitely in the 153846 pattern)
and because they rounded up the correct answer is A, 5.7.
I figured it out though. You do need both the weight and the volume to figure it out.
First each gallon weighs 7 lbs, so you take 42 gallons and multiply it by 7lbs. = 294lbs
The tricky part is that it says each cubic foot is 52lbs. They're trying to trick you into associating cubic feet with lbs, but really they're two different variables being used for a conversion from one way of measuring a material like converting a persons pay check into hours and hourly rate over the course of a large time frame (large time frame being the 42 gallon barrel).
So, what's this mean? A 42 gallon barrel weighs 294lbs, but it's cubic feet is a percentage of that weight. 294/52, as it takes 52 lbs of material to compose 1 cu ft the correct answer is 5.7 as the math turns out the whole number is: 5.653846153846153846153846153846(infinitely in the 153846 pattern)
and because they rounded up the correct answer is A, 5.7.
does this math seem wrong to you??!
One type of lubricating oil weighs approximately 52 pounds per cubic foot, or 7 pounds per gallon. A 42-gallon barrel will hold approximately how many cubic feet of such oil?
5.7
6.0
7.4
10.8
29.5
tell me if I'm doing this wrong.
7 pounds per gallon = 52 pounds per cubic foot.
42 gallons = 294 pounds and also = 2184 pounds per cubic foot....
I figured they got 6.0 as their answer by dividing 42 by 7, but that doesn't seem like the right answer in light of the given information, unless somewhere when they were talking about cubic feet they meant cubic inches...
5.7
6.0
7.4
10.8
29.5
tell me if I'm doing this wrong.
7 pounds per gallon = 52 pounds per cubic foot.
42 gallons = 294 pounds and also = 2184 pounds per cubic foot....
I figured they got 6.0 as their answer by dividing 42 by 7, but that doesn't seem like the right answer in light of the given information, unless somewhere when they were talking about cubic feet they meant cubic inches...
new toy i found
Canon is releasing a new toy on the amateur photographers market
Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR Camera (Camera Body
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/613611-REG/Canon_3818B001_EOS_Rebel_T1i_Digital.html#Memory
cool things about it?
shoots 1080p video. =) yup, the good stuff. It also shoots stills, 15.4mp per raw file.
Downsides? SD and SDHC only, no CF card compatability, CF is still faster and has larger sizes available than SD and SDHC, it also has a better success/failure rate than SD/SDHC has been known to have.
It is going to be released in May some time. So, technically right now it might be available since it's like 1:15 am on May 1st!
Oh, other cool thing? $799 new for the body. It's comparable to the xti/xsi for when they came out but it blows them away in both features and mp's.
Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR Camera (Camera Body
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/613611-REG/Canon_3818B001_EOS_Rebel_T1i_Digital.html#Memory
cool things about it?
shoots 1080p video. =) yup, the good stuff. It also shoots stills, 15.4mp per raw file.
Downsides? SD and SDHC only, no CF card compatability, CF is still faster and has larger sizes available than SD and SDHC, it also has a better success/failure rate than SD/SDHC has been known to have.
It is going to be released in May some time. So, technically right now it might be available since it's like 1:15 am on May 1st!
Oh, other cool thing? $799 new for the body. It's comparable to the xti/xsi for when they came out but it blows them away in both features and mp's.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
ASVAB
if you were curious... There's been some discussion as to what scores translate to... I've gotten a bit confused describing my AFQT score as Tom thinks it's one thing other people thinks it's something else, so here I'll put in my line scores for the whole bit and see if we can't clear some things up. :)
The AFQT score is a percentile score, 99 is the highest possible percent one can receive on the ASVAB and I got a 94, hence all jobs open to new enlistments are potentially available to me assuming I get security clearance...
That breaks my standard scores down to:
General Science: 59
Arithmetic Reasoning:62
Word Kmowledge:64
Paragraph Comprehension:61
Mathematic Knowledge:62
Electronics Information:65
Auto & Shop information:61
Mechanical Comprehension:67
Assembly of Objects:64
VE (summary of word knowledge and paragraph comprehension):64
Coding Speed:60
Those are the general catagories of the ASVAB, assuming you get 60 on each of those you get pretty much anything open to you, such is my situation.
Army breaks it down into these catagories, and Army as well as others afterwards I don't know what the abbreviations stand for, though you can probably find it on www.about.com
GT:128
CL:130
CO:132
EL:132
FA:132
GM:131
MM:131
OF:132
SC:132
ST:131
Air Force has the following
M:97
A:94
G:94
E:92
Navy/Coast Guard has the following:
GT:126
EL:248
BEE:245
ENG:123
MEC:190
MEC2:193
NUC:255 (nuclear, notice I tested highest in this)
OPS:252
HM:185
ADM:126
Marines have the following:
MM:132
GT:132
EL:128
CL:128
I understand for certain positions there are more tests involved, such is the case with intelligence positions and I think nuclear (though I'm not sure with nuclear, or other branches of the military). What I do know is I haven't seen a "qt" though I have seen "gt"s.
For those who are interested in the actual numbers here they are, from what I understand the Air Force basis their scoring out of 99 possible. Positions in the Navy are based off of combining scores from different line items, to go Nuc you need something like a 320 when combining your AFQT and Nuc, combining those with mine I have a 349. I'm not sure what the line items are out of with army, marines, navy, and coast guard as they're all above 100 in my case and some are well over 200. My father-in-law is calling an old friend he served with, he was a 2-star stationed here at Hill AFB and he's gonna see if he can't weasel some things around for me, if he can more power to him, and if he can't that's ok because I wasn't too thrilled about the Air Force though a lot of people say they're the ones who get pampered. (they go up in multi million dollar planes, they have to be pampered cause if they fall asleep at the wheel aint no one wanna pay the insurance premium hikes!)...
The AFQT score is a percentile score, 99 is the highest possible percent one can receive on the ASVAB and I got a 94, hence all jobs open to new enlistments are potentially available to me assuming I get security clearance...
That breaks my standard scores down to:
General Science: 59
Arithmetic Reasoning:62
Word Kmowledge:64
Paragraph Comprehension:61
Mathematic Knowledge:62
Electronics Information:65
Auto & Shop information:61
Mechanical Comprehension:67
Assembly of Objects:64
VE (summary of word knowledge and paragraph comprehension):64
Coding Speed:60
Those are the general catagories of the ASVAB, assuming you get 60 on each of those you get pretty much anything open to you, such is my situation.
Army breaks it down into these catagories, and Army as well as others afterwards I don't know what the abbreviations stand for, though you can probably find it on www.about.com
GT:128
CL:130
CO:132
EL:132
FA:132
GM:131
MM:131
OF:132
SC:132
ST:131
Air Force has the following
M:97
A:94
G:94
E:92
Navy/Coast Guard has the following:
GT:126
EL:248
BEE:245
ENG:123
MEC:190
MEC2:193
NUC:255 (nuclear, notice I tested highest in this)
OPS:252
HM:185
ADM:126
Marines have the following:
MM:132
GT:132
EL:128
CL:128
I understand for certain positions there are more tests involved, such is the case with intelligence positions and I think nuclear (though I'm not sure with nuclear, or other branches of the military). What I do know is I haven't seen a "qt" though I have seen "gt"s.
For those who are interested in the actual numbers here they are, from what I understand the Air Force basis their scoring out of 99 possible. Positions in the Navy are based off of combining scores from different line items, to go Nuc you need something like a 320 when combining your AFQT and Nuc, combining those with mine I have a 349. I'm not sure what the line items are out of with army, marines, navy, and coast guard as they're all above 100 in my case and some are well over 200. My father-in-law is calling an old friend he served with, he was a 2-star stationed here at Hill AFB and he's gonna see if he can't weasel some things around for me, if he can more power to him, and if he can't that's ok because I wasn't too thrilled about the Air Force though a lot of people say they're the ones who get pampered. (they go up in multi million dollar planes, they have to be pampered cause if they fall asleep at the wheel aint no one wanna pay the insurance premium hikes!)...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Meanderings
Honey thinks she might be pregnant...
Her period didn't ever come... She's cramping when she shouldn't be... Nausea... Spotting...
Yeah... Dunno. Last time we thought this she was lactating and we found she had a tumor...
Honestly though, if she is....
The kids nickname is gonna be "oops!" lol
jk I wouldn't say that
outloud
Her period didn't ever come... She's cramping when she shouldn't be... Nausea... Spotting...
Yeah... Dunno. Last time we thought this she was lactating and we found she had a tumor...
Honestly though, if she is....
The kids nickname is gonna be "oops!" lol
jk I wouldn't say that
outloud
Don't ask me how my day went
Just don't.
Yes, I made tape. I wasn't terribly worried about it. It's funny though, they got my height last time at 67 inches, at the recruiters it's at 67 1/2 inches, and today they figured me to be 66 1/2 inches. Somewhere and some how I'm shrinking I suppose. They figured my neck to be 17 1/2, funny, it's been measuring 18 and 18 1/2 for a month now. Go figure. My belly measured 40 inches, which is what they've been measuring me at there at the recruiters office. Long and short of all this information? I came in at 24%, which for now is close enough.
In previous posts I've said how I did on the ASVAB, my AFQT (general overall score, highest possible is 99) was a 94. Not bad. I attribute this to an affinity for useless information combined with 4 years of schooling under my belt. The issue of getting such a high score is that it's cost me in student loans, the government doesn't like it's employees having debt upon entering. The general cut off for security clearance is around 25k. I have right around 20k in student loans. Add what we owe on our car and that puts me over. Add what we owe on credit cards, and well, good night. So, clearance isn't an option for me, and won't likely be for at least two years. All the speeding tickets when I was younger aren't helping, neither was having my large speeding ticket go to collections right before I paid it off (it was retrieved from collections but that doesn't matter, high debt with a history of something going to collections is a bad combination with the military).
So, that cuts out 75% of the jobs I'm interested in, Intel, Nuclear, and much of the like. Are there positions open for other things that don't require clearance? Yes, the soonest opening is for a corpsman. Honestly I'm not sure if I'm even remotely interested in that though. A corpsman is just this side of a Dr., and can be assigned to ships, medical ships, batallions, and marine groups, etc. The issue? I'm not so sure I like blood, or needles. Sure there's the possibility of doing really well in my "A" school and making it as a radiologist type, but I'm still not sure.
What to do
what to do
?what to do!
Friday is when new postings for May (first of the month) might be opened up, if not then the following week. They're going to call me if there's another opening that I might be interested that opens up. The debt thing is the same across the board with all the other services so it doesn't really matter who I try with, I won't be able to get clearance with any of them for a while yet. So, for now, and until further notice I hurry up and wait.
Yes, I made tape. I wasn't terribly worried about it. It's funny though, they got my height last time at 67 inches, at the recruiters it's at 67 1/2 inches, and today they figured me to be 66 1/2 inches. Somewhere and some how I'm shrinking I suppose. They figured my neck to be 17 1/2, funny, it's been measuring 18 and 18 1/2 for a month now. Go figure. My belly measured 40 inches, which is what they've been measuring me at there at the recruiters office. Long and short of all this information? I came in at 24%, which for now is close enough.
In previous posts I've said how I did on the ASVAB, my AFQT (general overall score, highest possible is 99) was a 94. Not bad. I attribute this to an affinity for useless information combined with 4 years of schooling under my belt. The issue of getting such a high score is that it's cost me in student loans, the government doesn't like it's employees having debt upon entering. The general cut off for security clearance is around 25k. I have right around 20k in student loans. Add what we owe on our car and that puts me over. Add what we owe on credit cards, and well, good night. So, clearance isn't an option for me, and won't likely be for at least two years. All the speeding tickets when I was younger aren't helping, neither was having my large speeding ticket go to collections right before I paid it off (it was retrieved from collections but that doesn't matter, high debt with a history of something going to collections is a bad combination with the military).
So, that cuts out 75% of the jobs I'm interested in, Intel, Nuclear, and much of the like. Are there positions open for other things that don't require clearance? Yes, the soonest opening is for a corpsman. Honestly I'm not sure if I'm even remotely interested in that though. A corpsman is just this side of a Dr., and can be assigned to ships, medical ships, batallions, and marine groups, etc. The issue? I'm not so sure I like blood, or needles. Sure there's the possibility of doing really well in my "A" school and making it as a radiologist type, but I'm still not sure.
What to do
what to do
?what to do!
Friday is when new postings for May (first of the month) might be opened up, if not then the following week. They're going to call me if there's another opening that I might be interested that opens up. The debt thing is the same across the board with all the other services so it doesn't really matter who I try with, I won't be able to get clearance with any of them for a while yet. So, for now, and until further notice I hurry up and wait.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wowzers! I'm blogging again, I had to pick my wife up off the floor as she saw me blogging and passed out! ;) jk
It's been forever since I've updated this... So, what's happened recently?
My next older brother got married, I borrowed a friends camera and shot over 2000 images of their wedding for them. It was a lot of fun. Maybe it was because I was shooting a camera that really maximized my abilities (obviously it wasn't something I can afford, as what I Can afford doesn't match what I can do very well most times...), maybe it was because the people were listening to me when I was giving directions (other weddings I've shot people ignored me, thereby adding to the frustrations as shots don't happen unless people listen and do, as anyone who was there could tell you, if everyone listens it can all be over Very quickly, it was so nice), maybe it was because I've had more experience doing other things and where everyone listened so well (possibly because I'm older, bolder, and have a much better idea having more experience in photography and having been married myself now too), no matter how you look at it I really enjoyed it. The first time I've ever enjoyed it like that. I was kind of dreading the wedding part of shooting it before hand (engagements are always fun though it's the weddings I've dreaded in times past) but when it came to it, well, it was just fun. The day was long, I passed out long before midnight, which for me is nothing shy of a miracle lately.
My next older sister is officially legally d'd from her ex. It was an exciting day friday when the mass text was sent out. There were people sighing sighs of relief across the country. =)
I lost 16 pounds. Not all of it was this month, but in the last 2 I've lost 16 pounds and about 3 inches from my waist. Which is a good thing too as I'm going into the Navy. Speaking of which. Tomorrow, sunday, I'm going up to the recruiters so I can be taken up to MEPS and get taped. I'd already gone up previously but couldn't be accepted as I was over weight, my body fat percent was up to 28 and it needs to be at 25 or below, but by the time I'm done in RTC it needs to be down to 22 or lower. For those who don't know... MEPS- Military Entrance Processing Station. RTC - Recruit Training Center. So, monday I'll be going from the hotel over to MEPS where they'll tape me, and then I'll be able to pick my career. I've been considering a Nuclear field, but I'm pretty sure if there's a Media opening I'll be taking it. When I go into RTC will be dependent on what field I take and when they have an opening in that field. So, I'm not sure when that will be, but I'm sure it'll be easier for me to put another blog monday night that has all the info people are wanting to know.
My oldest sister just moved into an apartment. Well, her whole family is moving up from a ways away and they're looking for a house up here but they had to move out of their old house because it already sold and the people buying it will be moving in fairly shortly, so, today we helped them with that. Last week we helped them move a bunch of stuff into a storage unit. Funny thing is that I thought the truck last week was big. I was wrong. The one today was HUGE! Well, bigger than last weeks and all in all it was a lot of fun, her hubby has a pretty cool brother that I had some fun conversations with, and for the time they're in the place I think they've got a pretty decent deal. They were really nice in how they did it, they got gift cards and gave them to everyone who helped them move. Today I picked an Itunes card, sadly when I got the info inputed into my computer at home it wasn't 10 minutes later that I'd used the card all up, but I got a bunch of songs I've been wanting to get! :) THANK YOU! Oh, and the cool thing, the music I downloaded was then immediately available in my ZUNE software, and when I connected my Zune it was instantly uploaded it to it, unlike previous versions where you'd have to burn a CD then rip it in order to get it onto a non-"i" product. Mac-in-crap is finally realizing they get more business when they work with other products. I wonder when they'll figure out how to configure their permissions issues so that macs and pc's can work together on a network properly, as it is mac's see pc's just fine and adjusting "permissions" on a pc is so simple and flawless that it's easy to let macs in, but macs don't let pc's read them at all in my experience, most of which has occured at work over the last 9 months.
What else has gone on? My Oldest brother had another baby, well, his wife did. Oddly it was on my next older brothers wedding day/night that she was induced.
My middle older brother is moving, they'd just come up for the wedding and it was nice to see them again, for the first time I remember I saw him in his class A uniform, I even got some pics of him. It was good to see them, like so many of my siblings they live "far" away and I don't get to see them as often as I'd like, I suppose two have lived fairly close all along, but three have lived further away and it's been hard. Oddly enough I'm saying this right before joining the navy and who knows where I'll be when I finish RTC and "A" School.
So, what's going on in my life? Oh, nothing much. lol
My old best friend got married just about 6 months ago... His wife is due in september.
My next older brother got married, I borrowed a friends camera and shot over 2000 images of their wedding for them. It was a lot of fun. Maybe it was because I was shooting a camera that really maximized my abilities (obviously it wasn't something I can afford, as what I Can afford doesn't match what I can do very well most times...), maybe it was because the people were listening to me when I was giving directions (other weddings I've shot people ignored me, thereby adding to the frustrations as shots don't happen unless people listen and do, as anyone who was there could tell you, if everyone listens it can all be over Very quickly, it was so nice), maybe it was because I've had more experience doing other things and where everyone listened so well (possibly because I'm older, bolder, and have a much better idea having more experience in photography and having been married myself now too), no matter how you look at it I really enjoyed it. The first time I've ever enjoyed it like that. I was kind of dreading the wedding part of shooting it before hand (engagements are always fun though it's the weddings I've dreaded in times past) but when it came to it, well, it was just fun. The day was long, I passed out long before midnight, which for me is nothing shy of a miracle lately.
My next older sister is officially legally d'd from her ex. It was an exciting day friday when the mass text was sent out. There were people sighing sighs of relief across the country. =)
I lost 16 pounds. Not all of it was this month, but in the last 2 I've lost 16 pounds and about 3 inches from my waist. Which is a good thing too as I'm going into the Navy. Speaking of which. Tomorrow, sunday, I'm going up to the recruiters so I can be taken up to MEPS and get taped. I'd already gone up previously but couldn't be accepted as I was over weight, my body fat percent was up to 28 and it needs to be at 25 or below, but by the time I'm done in RTC it needs to be down to 22 or lower. For those who don't know... MEPS- Military Entrance Processing Station. RTC - Recruit Training Center. So, monday I'll be going from the hotel over to MEPS where they'll tape me, and then I'll be able to pick my career. I've been considering a Nuclear field, but I'm pretty sure if there's a Media opening I'll be taking it. When I go into RTC will be dependent on what field I take and when they have an opening in that field. So, I'm not sure when that will be, but I'm sure it'll be easier for me to put another blog monday night that has all the info people are wanting to know.
My oldest sister just moved into an apartment. Well, her whole family is moving up from a ways away and they're looking for a house up here but they had to move out of their old house because it already sold and the people buying it will be moving in fairly shortly, so, today we helped them with that. Last week we helped them move a bunch of stuff into a storage unit. Funny thing is that I thought the truck last week was big. I was wrong. The one today was HUGE! Well, bigger than last weeks and all in all it was a lot of fun, her hubby has a pretty cool brother that I had some fun conversations with, and for the time they're in the place I think they've got a pretty decent deal. They were really nice in how they did it, they got gift cards and gave them to everyone who helped them move. Today I picked an Itunes card, sadly when I got the info inputed into my computer at home it wasn't 10 minutes later that I'd used the card all up, but I got a bunch of songs I've been wanting to get! :) THANK YOU! Oh, and the cool thing, the music I downloaded was then immediately available in my ZUNE software, and when I connected my Zune it was instantly uploaded it to it, unlike previous versions where you'd have to burn a CD then rip it in order to get it onto a non-"i" product. Mac-in-crap is finally realizing they get more business when they work with other products. I wonder when they'll figure out how to configure their permissions issues so that macs and pc's can work together on a network properly, as it is mac's see pc's just fine and adjusting "permissions" on a pc is so simple and flawless that it's easy to let macs in, but macs don't let pc's read them at all in my experience, most of which has occured at work over the last 9 months.
What else has gone on? My Oldest brother had another baby, well, his wife did. Oddly it was on my next older brothers wedding day/night that she was induced.
My middle older brother is moving, they'd just come up for the wedding and it was nice to see them again, for the first time I remember I saw him in his class A uniform, I even got some pics of him. It was good to see them, like so many of my siblings they live "far" away and I don't get to see them as often as I'd like, I suppose two have lived fairly close all along, but three have lived further away and it's been hard. Oddly enough I'm saying this right before joining the navy and who knows where I'll be when I finish RTC and "A" School.
So, what's going on in my life? Oh, nothing much. lol
My old best friend got married just about 6 months ago... His wife is due in september.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Chocolate Chip Cookies
I remember
I remember a time when I made a double batch of cookies. They were my favorite recipe of chocolate chip cookies. Meaning it was the recipe from the bag of the brand of chocolate chips that I really liked. I was making them for my brother before he was leaving for Arkansas, he was going to be there for a couple years with minimal opportunities to contact us. This was when e-mail was just really starting, we were on dial up, I think I had an e-mail account with Juno at the time (an account I haven't used for years at this point)... Anyway, I knew he was going to be traveling with a lot of people, so I wanted them to go as far as possible, which meant I couldn't just make a few big ones (like I would have liked to have eaten myself....lol) but instead I made a TON of little ones, so many in fact I think it took one or two bread bags to hold them. Yes, he carried them on the airplane in bread bags. We also were able to see him off at the terminal at that time. (If you haven't flown in the last ten years you might not know that you can't get through security without working at the airport, on an airplane, or unless you have a ticket, some exceptions....but not many....apply).
With that in mind.
I'm making cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. And I'm making some that are really tiny. Now I call them diet cookies. One of these little cookies can satisfy a grown man on a diet for a day. They're kind of like Lembas bread for those with a sweet tooth.
Unfortunately I'm more like a Hobbit, so they're going to be taken in to work so that my diet doesn't get destroyed by 'eating one, then sneaking 20 more....' lol.
The funniest part, they're oatmeal chocolate chip, but I didn't have a full bag so half of them are oatmeal cookies while others are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...
:)
I remember a time when I made a double batch of cookies. They were my favorite recipe of chocolate chip cookies. Meaning it was the recipe from the bag of the brand of chocolate chips that I really liked. I was making them for my brother before he was leaving for Arkansas, he was going to be there for a couple years with minimal opportunities to contact us. This was when e-mail was just really starting, we were on dial up, I think I had an e-mail account with Juno at the time (an account I haven't used for years at this point)... Anyway, I knew he was going to be traveling with a lot of people, so I wanted them to go as far as possible, which meant I couldn't just make a few big ones (like I would have liked to have eaten myself....lol) but instead I made a TON of little ones, so many in fact I think it took one or two bread bags to hold them. Yes, he carried them on the airplane in bread bags. We also were able to see him off at the terminal at that time. (If you haven't flown in the last ten years you might not know that you can't get through security without working at the airport, on an airplane, or unless you have a ticket, some exceptions....but not many....apply).
With that in mind.
I'm making cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. And I'm making some that are really tiny. Now I call them diet cookies. One of these little cookies can satisfy a grown man on a diet for a day. They're kind of like Lembas bread for those with a sweet tooth.
Unfortunately I'm more like a Hobbit, so they're going to be taken in to work so that my diet doesn't get destroyed by 'eating one, then sneaking 20 more....' lol.
The funniest part, they're oatmeal chocolate chip, but I didn't have a full bag so half of them are oatmeal cookies while others are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...
:)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Becoming the Bull
"Grab a bull by the horn the old addage goes
No one tells you where to go from there!"
So, what I have to mention deals nothing with that song, it's just a song I have stuck in my head, fortunately I'm glad it's stuck there as I really enjoy the song and it gives me reasons to google/youtube it and listen to it again, and again, and again. Lol...
The whole reason i'm putting this up? Well, I've lost ten pounds so far. My belt is cinched up a notch tighter (and it doesn't hurt to have it there, it's just where it's closing up at now) and I've put an inch onto my neck from 17 up to 18 now.
Oh, and when they taped me a week ago my waist was down from a 42.5 to a 40, beyond that I've lost 3-4 pounds since then (part of the 10 lbs that I've lost total) but I'm not going in to get taped until next monday so I can see a 2 week difference with my current diet. The funny thing, I'm only REALLY working out 2-3 times a week (though I'd rather be working out 6 days a week, I just haven't yet due to things popping up, etc), but the calorie restriction combined with daily situps and regular exercise is doing a ton for me! btw, I'm still eating like a pig, I'm just pigging out on fruits and veggies, they're unlimited calories, as such my stomach doesn't ever cramp etc and I feel healthy rather than feeling like I'm off kilter. Salads for dinner. Who'd have thunk.
No one tells you where to go from there!"
So, what I have to mention deals nothing with that song, it's just a song I have stuck in my head, fortunately I'm glad it's stuck there as I really enjoy the song and it gives me reasons to google/youtube it and listen to it again, and again, and again. Lol...
The whole reason i'm putting this up? Well, I've lost ten pounds so far. My belt is cinched up a notch tighter (and it doesn't hurt to have it there, it's just where it's closing up at now) and I've put an inch onto my neck from 17 up to 18 now.
Oh, and when they taped me a week ago my waist was down from a 42.5 to a 40, beyond that I've lost 3-4 pounds since then (part of the 10 lbs that I've lost total) but I'm not going in to get taped until next monday so I can see a 2 week difference with my current diet. The funny thing, I'm only REALLY working out 2-3 times a week (though I'd rather be working out 6 days a week, I just haven't yet due to things popping up, etc), but the calorie restriction combined with daily situps and regular exercise is doing a ton for me! btw, I'm still eating like a pig, I'm just pigging out on fruits and veggies, they're unlimited calories, as such my stomach doesn't ever cramp etc and I feel healthy rather than feeling like I'm off kilter. Salads for dinner. Who'd have thunk.
Monday, March 23, 2009
24 hr fitness
I've been working lately on working off the chub from my belly. As well as building my neck size. Larger neck sizes allow for larger waists of people trying to get into the armed forces, well, at least the Navy, I'm not so sure about other branches. Needless to say since I didn't make it my first time through MEPS I've been trying to work down the weight so I can get through the next time, and every monday I've gone in to the local recruiter I'm working through who's been doing courtesy tapes for me to help me monitor my progress.
Today I taped an 18.5" neck and a 40" belly. As opposed to my 18" neck and 42.5" belly last week. Which puts me at 23%. A good 2% below the cut off for my height.
So, Nick, my recruiter, is calling up to MEPS today to see if I can't get retaped up there since they may have been taping me to ARMY standards and not NAVY standards when I went through the first time, as such I should be able to make it through if they tape me correctly. What does that do? Allows me to get into DEP (Delayed Entry Program) sooner while I wait for the day when there's a slot for me at RTC (Recruit Training Center) for the career that I'll be able to pick (picking it upon entry into the DEP).
The long and short of it? I may not have to wait until April 27th to go back to MEPS to get taped, which may allow for me to get a position before someone else snags it up, it also gives me a firm grasp on when things are happening and how long my "A" School will be so I can be better prepared for everything, hopefully with more time for memorization pre-RTC. =)
Today I taped an 18.5" neck and a 40" belly. As opposed to my 18" neck and 42.5" belly last week. Which puts me at 23%. A good 2% below the cut off for my height.
So, Nick, my recruiter, is calling up to MEPS today to see if I can't get retaped up there since they may have been taping me to ARMY standards and not NAVY standards when I went through the first time, as such I should be able to make it through if they tape me correctly. What does that do? Allows me to get into DEP (Delayed Entry Program) sooner while I wait for the day when there's a slot for me at RTC (Recruit Training Center) for the career that I'll be able to pick (picking it upon entry into the DEP).
The long and short of it? I may not have to wait until April 27th to go back to MEPS to get taped, which may allow for me to get a position before someone else snags it up, it also gives me a firm grasp on when things are happening and how long my "A" School will be so I can be better prepared for everything, hopefully with more time for memorization pre-RTC. =)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Master of Shrubberies, or large dead objects needing to be felled...
I was asked to help with something last night... It was something to be done today. It left me with scratches up and down my arms, and large piles in several lawns. It used to produce pine cones and pine needles. It hasn't for many moons... Many moons more than I've been married to my wife... Needless to say, it has been on the list of "trees to remove" for some time now, and today it's day came. Today being saturday though, it's late enough this will be posted Very late saturday/early sunday. Whatever. It happened this morning/afternoon.
Last night I started by trying to get a gas-powered chain saw to start for me. It had a larger bite, longer arm, as well as a more powerful motor than the two electric chain saws I had potentially at my disposal. So, I considered it. It wouldn't start for me, I tried and tried but it never even gave as much as a putter for me. So, I hoped that one of the two electric ones would work for me the next day, and or that there was one somewhere that I knew nothing of.
Morning came and I started up the tree, breaking off the little branches that were on the main branches, well, as many as I dared reach for from the main of the tree. Anyway, I climbed within 10 feet of the top before I considered the first part of my task done.
Next I began to try to use a chainsaw on it... Well, funny thing is I first put it to a branch and it made it half an inch into it before the blade stopped turning all together. So, we tried the next one and I began cutting the branches from the main of the tree 2-3 feet out from it and began climbing up the tree cutting the rest off like that. Yes. I was climbing up a tree, 3 stories high (where I was at was 3 stories high, the tree went up more than 10 feet above where I was at) with a chainsaw (electrical, power cord tied onto it so I wouldn't have to make any more trips up and down than were absolutely necessary). Then we tied a rope to the top, from a ladder we cut the first segment down where the last chunk of the trunk was much much easier.
Such was the day, four hours and many tired muscles later the work was done. Well, mostly, aside from clean up, and cutting down the other branches that stemmed from the trunk. Well, there's also what needs to be burned from it still too.
Anyone wanna come over and have a hotdog roast?
Last night I started by trying to get a gas-powered chain saw to start for me. It had a larger bite, longer arm, as well as a more powerful motor than the two electric chain saws I had potentially at my disposal. So, I considered it. It wouldn't start for me, I tried and tried but it never even gave as much as a putter for me. So, I hoped that one of the two electric ones would work for me the next day, and or that there was one somewhere that I knew nothing of.
Morning came and I started up the tree, breaking off the little branches that were on the main branches, well, as many as I dared reach for from the main of the tree. Anyway, I climbed within 10 feet of the top before I considered the first part of my task done.
Next I began to try to use a chainsaw on it... Well, funny thing is I first put it to a branch and it made it half an inch into it before the blade stopped turning all together. So, we tried the next one and I began cutting the branches from the main of the tree 2-3 feet out from it and began climbing up the tree cutting the rest off like that. Yes. I was climbing up a tree, 3 stories high (where I was at was 3 stories high, the tree went up more than 10 feet above where I was at) with a chainsaw (electrical, power cord tied onto it so I wouldn't have to make any more trips up and down than were absolutely necessary). Then we tied a rope to the top, from a ladder we cut the first segment down where the last chunk of the trunk was much much easier.
Such was the day, four hours and many tired muscles later the work was done. Well, mostly, aside from clean up, and cutting down the other branches that stemmed from the trunk. Well, there's also what needs to be burned from it still too.
Anyone wanna come over and have a hotdog roast?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
ASVAB
So I went up to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) on monday, came home today (tuesday) having failed. I'll leave that as a cliff hanger while I get to why I failed. I arrived monday afternoon and proceeded to being entered into their system (photo, index-fingerprinting) etc, then proceeded to take the ASVAB. Honestly it was easier than most tests I had in college. There are a couple parts of it that I was scratching my head on at first, but in the end I got it all figured out fairly well, time wasn't even an issue for me once, most of the sections I got done in half the allotted time. The coding section was something that worried me as I heard about it before I went up to MEPS, but honestly I enjoyed it, it wasn't bad at all. Overall I would say more than 75% of the test dealt with things that interested me in one way or other. As you might imagine I did fairly well on it. 94. (99 is the highest possible, after 80 most all jobs are open to applicants regarding ASVAB job reqs').
I got my results, called my recruiter (who when I told him my score was super excited and told everyone in the recruiting offic how well I did, funnily enough he predicted my ASVAB scores from how I had done on the Pre-ASVAB that I'd takena week or two prior). Then I took the shuttle to the hotel, waited for a semi-pointless meeting (they tell you to be nice, behave at the hotel as well as MEPS and give a run down of what to expect, aka play a DVD). By the end of the DVD I'd heard everything said in it 3-4 times previously so nothing new was being covered.
I woke up earlier in the morning than the wake-up call (which never came oddly...), got ready and went to MEPS. by the by, I am leaving out meals and exercise from this, I Did in fact eat while I was there last night and today, as well as exercising while I was up there. lol I arrived there (with close to 35 others, 2 of us going into Navy while most of the others going Army with a few going marines) and began "processing". I went in and check-marked boxes on two pages (this is After having waited for 30-45 minutes for someone to come in and do this for us), got my blood pressure taken (I was apparently nervous as they had to do it twice because the first time my pressure was too high and relaxing Did help, though I was nervous the Entire time) did the forms then began the fun parts. My hearing test went very well, I expected my right ear to be my bad ear but it turns out my left ear was worse, both ears however still have very sharp hearing (I have the tests to prove it!, well, MEPS does...lol). Next was the blood drawing, the lady looked at my left arm, after 2 minutes couldn't get a vein to appear she asked me "do you have deep veins?" (I'm sitting there thinking, "Gee lady, if I was an RN I'd be able to answer that but I'm a photographer, what ISO do you usually shoot at during an indoor sports game?") and I tell her I'm right handed so my right arm is stronger and has bigger veins. So, she went for the right arm and got it the first time without digging. She had asked if I had an issue with needles, I told her "as long as you're putting that -> end in and not that end => in then I'm fine (the needle to fill the vial is 3x bigger than the needle that goes in your arm) she chuckled and said "if I was putting that in I'd have a problem".
Then was the vision test. I pulled out having 20/20 still, and my depth perception turned out well. I got lost on the last line of the last section and lost my focus completely but pulled it back together and did fine. Then was the urine test. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to pee in front of someone else. "no pressure" right? lol...... yeah... Anyway, got that taken care of. Then I had to wait for the physical, I ended up being one of the last 2 to get it done but did fine on it. I didn't get to meet with a Navy Liason though because I still needed to get taped. For my height their info says I should weigh no more than 176.... I haven't weighed that little since high school (8 years ago). The other option is to have less than 25% body fat. I measured in at 28%. At then end of RTC (recruit training command) it has to be below 22% (given the amount of exercise you do there it's not so much a problem to work down 3% while you're there, but were I to try to work off 6% while there could prove problematic which is why they do it how they do). I did go to the Navy Liason office and speak with a couple people there about career options, possibilities of getting in May. Depending on what career I choose will determine when I can go in to RTC, but I get to back in on April 27th to see if I've "cut the fat". It's really more like I need to get my waist size down and possibly build my neck up a little. The bigger the neck the less your waist affects you...... So, yeah, I failed cause I was too fat...lol but I'm already working on getting that. I've dropped from 220 to 218 already. I need to drop down to closer to 200. Honestly I wouldn't mind getting to what I was at in high school, but I don't think that will be as likely to happen until the end part of RTC at the absolute soonest. Weight wise at least.
So, April 27th I'll go in, sleep in a hotel the night of, the 28th I'll go in and get weighed and taped, assuming I'm within 25% I'll speak with a Navy Liason and pick my career and shipping (to RTC) date. I did test well enough to do Nuclear reactor positions. Fortunately with those they're in higher demand, have a $40,000 sign on bonus and to extend another 3 years after the initial 6 (6 required minimum) they give you another $120,000 bonus. Unfortunately only two types of ships in the Navy have nuclear reactors so my ship choice is limited leaving "A" school (2 YEARS of "A" school mind you, hence the 6 year minimum commitment) I would have the choice between two types, Modern AirCraft Carriers, and Subs (medium subs don't have Nukes onboard but have nuclear based propulsion and tend to travel to the "cool ports" where as large subs carry nuclear ordinance as well as skipping a large number of "cool ports" due to their massive size. Oddly enough an AirCraft Carrier Battle-group contains 2 subs (typically), so regardless of choosing Sub or Carrier I'd be next to one anyway. I'm still leaning toward Journalism Photography or News Media, but depending on how things fall I may go for the Nuke training anyway.
I got my results, called my recruiter (who when I told him my score was super excited and told everyone in the recruiting offic how well I did, funnily enough he predicted my ASVAB scores from how I had done on the Pre-ASVAB that I'd takena week or two prior). Then I took the shuttle to the hotel, waited for a semi-pointless meeting (they tell you to be nice, behave at the hotel as well as MEPS and give a run down of what to expect, aka play a DVD). By the end of the DVD I'd heard everything said in it 3-4 times previously so nothing new was being covered.
I woke up earlier in the morning than the wake-up call (which never came oddly...), got ready and went to MEPS. by the by, I am leaving out meals and exercise from this, I Did in fact eat while I was there last night and today, as well as exercising while I was up there. lol I arrived there (with close to 35 others, 2 of us going into Navy while most of the others going Army with a few going marines) and began "processing". I went in and check-marked boxes on two pages (this is After having waited for 30-45 minutes for someone to come in and do this for us), got my blood pressure taken (I was apparently nervous as they had to do it twice because the first time my pressure was too high and relaxing Did help, though I was nervous the Entire time) did the forms then began the fun parts. My hearing test went very well, I expected my right ear to be my bad ear but it turns out my left ear was worse, both ears however still have very sharp hearing (I have the tests to prove it!, well, MEPS does...lol). Next was the blood drawing, the lady looked at my left arm, after 2 minutes couldn't get a vein to appear she asked me "do you have deep veins?" (I'm sitting there thinking, "Gee lady, if I was an RN I'd be able to answer that but I'm a photographer, what ISO do you usually shoot at during an indoor sports game?") and I tell her I'm right handed so my right arm is stronger and has bigger veins. So, she went for the right arm and got it the first time without digging. She had asked if I had an issue with needles, I told her "as long as you're putting that -> end in and not that end => in then I'm fine (the needle to fill the vial is 3x bigger than the needle that goes in your arm) she chuckled and said "if I was putting that in I'd have a problem".
Then was the vision test. I pulled out having 20/20 still, and my depth perception turned out well. I got lost on the last line of the last section and lost my focus completely but pulled it back together and did fine. Then was the urine test. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to pee in front of someone else. "no pressure" right? lol...... yeah... Anyway, got that taken care of. Then I had to wait for the physical, I ended up being one of the last 2 to get it done but did fine on it. I didn't get to meet with a Navy Liason though because I still needed to get taped. For my height their info says I should weigh no more than 176.... I haven't weighed that little since high school (8 years ago). The other option is to have less than 25% body fat. I measured in at 28%. At then end of RTC (recruit training command) it has to be below 22% (given the amount of exercise you do there it's not so much a problem to work down 3% while you're there, but were I to try to work off 6% while there could prove problematic which is why they do it how they do). I did go to the Navy Liason office and speak with a couple people there about career options, possibilities of getting in May. Depending on what career I choose will determine when I can go in to RTC, but I get to back in on April 27th to see if I've "cut the fat". It's really more like I need to get my waist size down and possibly build my neck up a little. The bigger the neck the less your waist affects you...... So, yeah, I failed cause I was too fat...lol but I'm already working on getting that. I've dropped from 220 to 218 already. I need to drop down to closer to 200. Honestly I wouldn't mind getting to what I was at in high school, but I don't think that will be as likely to happen until the end part of RTC at the absolute soonest. Weight wise at least.
So, April 27th I'll go in, sleep in a hotel the night of, the 28th I'll go in and get weighed and taped, assuming I'm within 25% I'll speak with a Navy Liason and pick my career and shipping (to RTC) date. I did test well enough to do Nuclear reactor positions. Fortunately with those they're in higher demand, have a $40,000 sign on bonus and to extend another 3 years after the initial 6 (6 required minimum) they give you another $120,000 bonus. Unfortunately only two types of ships in the Navy have nuclear reactors so my ship choice is limited leaving "A" school (2 YEARS of "A" school mind you, hence the 6 year minimum commitment) I would have the choice between two types, Modern AirCraft Carriers, and Subs (medium subs don't have Nukes onboard but have nuclear based propulsion and tend to travel to the "cool ports" where as large subs carry nuclear ordinance as well as skipping a large number of "cool ports" due to their massive size. Oddly enough an AirCraft Carrier Battle-group contains 2 subs (typically), so regardless of choosing Sub or Carrier I'd be next to one anyway. I'm still leaning toward Journalism Photography or News Media, but depending on how things fall I may go for the Nuke training anyway.
Monday, March 2, 2009
navy update
Erin and I went in today, this was her first time actually meeting Seth (the recruiter I was mainly working with), and it was a really good experience.
I have to blame my mom here for a minute. She told us how important it was for us to both get our eagle scout as well as an education. Well, because I have an associates degree I qualify for E-3, funny thing is that being an Eagle Scout gives me the same ranking. Either way I'm going to be making 42k a year entering RTC (just consider it "basic training" because it's the navy's version of it). I can finish RTC as an E-4, which as you may suspect a higher pay scale as well as being able to "boss" people around, be bossed as well of course.
I signed up for my MEPs, it's when they put me through medical testing etc up in salt lake and see where my aptitudes lie and how healthy I am (or am not). I'm doing a lot of pushups and sit ups right now...lol. The friday following they'll come to our place and give us an in depth of what we're getting into. Seth and Nick will be coming, they're the two recruiters I've been working with.
I get to pick when I go into RTC, I think I mentioned before that I would be going in on April 27th, that way not only am I here for someone's wedding, I have time afterwards to edit the images from it. lol.
I get to pick on tuesday{next week} (based on the results of my MEPs) what career I'm going into based on what's available. It's kind of exciting, kind of scary. I'm hoping they have an opening in journalism and photography but planning that they won't.
After RTC I will go to my training school for my career I've chosen (the one I'm choosing next tuesday). If the training required for my chosen career will take more than 90 days then Erin will be moved out to live with me where I'm at (navy pays for it) and then we move from there to my base (which I also choose on tuesday next week, and the base is dependent on what career I have chosen and what bases they have open). Where we are 25/26 they'll allow us to go international, but we don't want to...So I'll be staying national, don't worry about that. I'll know more next week and be able to give another update for how I test in the MEPs and what career I've chosen and all that jazz.
Love you all!
I'm gonna go eat Chili! I put some together and it's been simmering for a little while now and smells Delicious! ...might be partly that I'm getting more exercise these days and cutting back on junk food....it's a good thing.
I have to blame my mom here for a minute. She told us how important it was for us to both get our eagle scout as well as an education. Well, because I have an associates degree I qualify for E-3, funny thing is that being an Eagle Scout gives me the same ranking. Either way I'm going to be making 42k a year entering RTC (just consider it "basic training" because it's the navy's version of it). I can finish RTC as an E-4, which as you may suspect a higher pay scale as well as being able to "boss" people around, be bossed as well of course.
I signed up for my MEPs, it's when they put me through medical testing etc up in salt lake and see where my aptitudes lie and how healthy I am (or am not). I'm doing a lot of pushups and sit ups right now...lol. The friday following they'll come to our place and give us an in depth of what we're getting into. Seth and Nick will be coming, they're the two recruiters I've been working with.
I get to pick when I go into RTC, I think I mentioned before that I would be going in on April 27th, that way not only am I here for someone's wedding, I have time afterwards to edit the images from it. lol.
I get to pick on tuesday{next week} (based on the results of my MEPs) what career I'm going into based on what's available. It's kind of exciting, kind of scary. I'm hoping they have an opening in journalism and photography but planning that they won't.
After RTC I will go to my training school for my career I've chosen (the one I'm choosing next tuesday). If the training required for my chosen career will take more than 90 days then Erin will be moved out to live with me where I'm at (navy pays for it) and then we move from there to my base (which I also choose on tuesday next week, and the base is dependent on what career I have chosen and what bases they have open). Where we are 25/26 they'll allow us to go international, but we don't want to...So I'll be staying national, don't worry about that. I'll know more next week and be able to give another update for how I test in the MEPs and what career I've chosen and all that jazz.
Love you all!
I'm gonna go eat Chili! I put some together and it's been simmering for a little while now and smells Delicious! ...might be partly that I'm getting more exercise these days and cutting back on junk food....it's a good thing.
navy
for those who don't know...
Since about september of 2008 I've been feeling more like I need to be attending school elsewhere. I have slowly been getting more direction and it's distinctly been feeling like I should be attending NYU. There are a few locations they're at in new york, and I'm not sure which one, but I'm sure one of them is right for me.
I've also been feeling like I'm supposed to be living back east.
My wife has also been getting these promptings and in time we've been getting better at recognizing what and how things are to work out.
We came to the conclusion of my joining the navy, and feel like it's where we're supposed to be right now. I tested well on the pre-asvab, I got an 82 where utah averages 27 (minimum required is a 30...). I'm putting in my papers today, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of the preliminary stuff taken care of.
The next major step is to take the actual asvab which consists of 10 catagories, 4 which test your mental capacity for certain things (math and english mainly), then 6 catagories to see how you do in other things, like coding, engineering, etc. Upon taking it I'll be given a physical, etc, and depending on my scores in areas will determine what positions I might be able to take. There are currently positions open in journalism/photography right now, and it's my hope to make it into them.
Mom took it better than I expected, Army_sgt-bro and his wife have known for a while...My wife and I have been asking them questions. If you get calls from government people it's a background check on me seeing if I qualify for security clearance. I'm not terribly worried about it, I've had enough background checks in the past 7 years I'm not afraid of what they might find. (3 from living with mom and dad from having the proctors in the house). I do realize this one will be more in depth, much more. We would appreciate your prayers as we're heading in to this.
So far I'm looking to enter basic (I can't recall the name for it, it's the navy's form of basic training) on the 27th of April, it's a week following the monday AFTER a certain wedding we all know about. It'll be six weeks. I'll have more information about what all is going on as time rolls on, so keep listening and I'll keep putting info up about it all. Love you all, take luck!
Since about september of 2008 I've been feeling more like I need to be attending school elsewhere. I have slowly been getting more direction and it's distinctly been feeling like I should be attending NYU. There are a few locations they're at in new york, and I'm not sure which one, but I'm sure one of them is right for me.
I've also been feeling like I'm supposed to be living back east.
My wife has also been getting these promptings and in time we've been getting better at recognizing what and how things are to work out.
We came to the conclusion of my joining the navy, and feel like it's where we're supposed to be right now. I tested well on the pre-asvab, I got an 82 where utah averages 27 (minimum required is a 30...). I'm putting in my papers today, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of the preliminary stuff taken care of.
The next major step is to take the actual asvab which consists of 10 catagories, 4 which test your mental capacity for certain things (math and english mainly), then 6 catagories to see how you do in other things, like coding, engineering, etc. Upon taking it I'll be given a physical, etc, and depending on my scores in areas will determine what positions I might be able to take. There are currently positions open in journalism/photography right now, and it's my hope to make it into them.
Mom took it better than I expected, Army_sgt-bro and his wife have known for a while...My wife and I have been asking them questions. If you get calls from government people it's a background check on me seeing if I qualify for security clearance. I'm not terribly worried about it, I've had enough background checks in the past 7 years I'm not afraid of what they might find. (3 from living with mom and dad from having the proctors in the house). I do realize this one will be more in depth, much more. We would appreciate your prayers as we're heading in to this.
So far I'm looking to enter basic (I can't recall the name for it, it's the navy's form of basic training) on the 27th of April, it's a week following the monday AFTER a certain wedding we all know about. It'll be six weeks. I'll have more information about what all is going on as time rolls on, so keep listening and I'll keep putting info up about it all. Love you all, take luck!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Hmmm
So I was trying to get better today, I slept in until 10:30 or so... Well, I did get up when my wife got out of bed, she turned on the lights, I groaned, and she turned them back off... I meant to get up with her, have breakfast with her, etc but passed out before I ever got up... :( I felt bad. I had a hard night sleeping, when I came to bed she was sprawled out (as she usually is) but (unlike normal) when I nudged or tickled her she didn't move. So, I slept as much on the bed as I could even though it meant an elbow in the shoulder and a knee in the thigh. Apparently I tickled her enough to get her arm to move though as she elbowed me in the nose before moving. lol, for all the nights she's had a hard time sleeping because of my snoring I think it's only fair, but it was kind of funny as she was lying there so peaceful when i got the elbow. The knee didn't move before I passed out, but I wasn't sore any today so it must have moved while I was asleep.
I got more applications out, the jobs seem to be thinning in my field. There are only three postings for photographers that i could find in canada (two with a cruise ship....yay :( and one with some other random company) but nothing paying more than 25k. I can make more than double that doing sheet metal (don't want to, but I know places hiring for it paying that much for 2 years experience like I have). Then I had an interview. It was in p-town (not pond town). They had me take a pre-asvab (asfab?) test, the average score in utah is 27, the minimum they require is 30, I got an 82. I felt pretty decent about it, and I finished it in half the time it suggested it would take. I'm awfully tempted to take the job, it's photojournalism (something that's been really interesting me lately), and it would pay 40-50k within the first 6 months. So, I'm considering it, there are some really enticing incentives with the job too, so we'll see.
I got more applications out, the jobs seem to be thinning in my field. There are only three postings for photographers that i could find in canada (two with a cruise ship....yay :( and one with some other random company) but nothing paying more than 25k. I can make more than double that doing sheet metal (don't want to, but I know places hiring for it paying that much for 2 years experience like I have). Then I had an interview. It was in p-town (not pond town). They had me take a pre-asvab (asfab?) test, the average score in utah is 27, the minimum they require is 30, I got an 82. I felt pretty decent about it, and I finished it in half the time it suggested it would take. I'm awfully tempted to take the job, it's photojournalism (something that's been really interesting me lately), and it would pay 40-50k within the first 6 months. So, I'm considering it, there are some really enticing incentives with the job too, so we'll see.
Monday, February 23, 2009
a little better
I applied for some more jobs today, about 8 to be exact... 3 of them were strictly photo-journalism jobs. I really think professionally that's the direction I want to head with my career, I don't so much like the idea of shooting studio portraits all day, newborns, weddings, products, over and over and over. I like the idea of being out and about and recording what is going on. I like the adventure of being on a new assignment, even though I know those assignments will include the mundane probably more often than not, at least it won't be always the same thing like if I tried getting a job with mattel...(makes barbie, bratz, etc...)
Unfortunately I already heard back from one of the places, they filled the position already. It's ok, it's the one I didn't want to want me (they were in iowa and were offering like 20-25k, which is what entry level pays in utah, whereas places like the east coast start any where from 35-65k)... But there are other fish-a-bitin. I guess technically I'm the fish, but hopefully someone soon pulls back on the hook and reels me in. =) Oh, btw, I added adsense to my blog, so now it'll start putting ads between blogs, so if you see something that interests you click away, if not I hope it's not too bothersome having it in there.
Unfortunately I already heard back from one of the places, they filled the position already. It's ok, it's the one I didn't want to want me (they were in iowa and were offering like 20-25k, which is what entry level pays in utah, whereas places like the east coast start any where from 35-65k)... But there are other fish-a-bitin. I guess technically I'm the fish, but hopefully someone soon pulls back on the hook and reels me in. =) Oh, btw, I added adsense to my blog, so now it'll start putting ads between blogs, so if you see something that interests you click away, if not I hope it's not too bothersome having it in there.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
fotoneurotic.com
I finally got my first site up and running. Well, it's at least crawling, I only got the first page done, 4 left, then there's the 5 pages to do on fotoneurotic.info I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I think I'll do a profile on one of the pages on the .com, the .info I want to be mostly informative, unbiased (difficult for me as anyone who knows me remotely well could tell you) etc.
It's frustrating though, when you get the prompting that you need to do something, you begin work on it and things don't seem to be pulling together (as though they should have the second you began working on it). No, I'm not referencing the website, though were it something so minimal as that I would be fine. Any way, I'm still looking for a photography job, hoping not to apply to the navy though they have over 300 openings for photographers across the country, and it is very tempting as 4 or 6 years experience with them and I could work with any hiring news company in the country. No to mention the up to $20,000 bonus for signing up...even half of that would almost eliminate our debt right now. Oh well, still searching.
It's frustrating though, when you get the prompting that you need to do something, you begin work on it and things don't seem to be pulling together (as though they should have the second you began working on it). No, I'm not referencing the website, though were it something so minimal as that I would be fine. Any way, I'm still looking for a photography job, hoping not to apply to the navy though they have over 300 openings for photographers across the country, and it is very tempting as 4 or 6 years experience with them and I could work with any hiring news company in the country. No to mention the up to $20,000 bonus for signing up...even half of that would almost eliminate our debt right now. Oh well, still searching.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Feelings and Promptings
I'm feeling more like a professional lately. I'm doing things in my education that is making my instructors look at me and say "really? I've not done things with that aspect of this program, how did you do that? How would you apply that into a project? How would I do that?". It's a good feeling, creates a sense of importance and probably makes my head get bigger than it should ever have become. Either way, it's nice to be appreciated in your field, especially when there are times when you feel "sub par" compared to your classmates and/or instructors. It's a good feeling when the people you work with compliment the work you do, choose you first for important jobs, and when the secretary says "you're the only dependable one here, we can always count on you to be here at the call time on the board regardless of when everyone else might come in."
It started as frustrations with the program. It continued to build and hit a point in escalation when I was ready to walk away. I talked with some people, accepted their advice and stuck with it. I thought about it. And again. And again. And again. Over and over and over. It's never left my mind. Things like that tend to have a reason for sticking around. Not sure that I'm supposed to continue sticking with it... Wasn't sure of that when I decided to.
I was shooting the "State of the University" address this week. Interim President Liz Hitch was speaking, addressing faculty, staff, and a few students who actually chose to show up, about how the University was/is doing. She went on and on about UVU being the "most engaged university in the universe" and how great things are there and how despite a 15% cut-back in funding we're still doing good and not entirely in a hiring freeze.
She opened the forum up for Q&A. After some faculty asked some questions she fielded a question from the UVU Review (the UVU newspaper). The question was if the school was going to continue it's membership with a clubhouse as a perk for certain of it's higher-up faculty. The response was essentially that the Clubhouse is a one time investment and that it's a negligible factor financially wise. She then mentioned how we needed to cut back how much food we provided for events, how 4% of our budget each year through the various departments gets eaten up, literally. She went on to say how important it was for blah blah blah blah. She kept skirting around issues of employment, money, department needs, etc. If you don't believe me, I know where you can get the footage of the whole thing. I was one of the three camera ops recording the whole thing.
I can't recall all that she said, I just remember how livid I was (standing no more than 15 feet from her the whole time it was hard for me to keep my professionalism where I was so close I could have said things easily without anyone else hearing what was said........but I like my job and ultimately she could fire me, so I canned my thoughts) after what she said during the Q/A. I sent a annonymous e-mail to her later that day. I received a response from one of her assistants. It didn't say much.
I was thinking today, I had said to them I'd rather pay as much as $1000 more a term if it meant having better faculty and more than one full time faculty in my department and classes that didn't have to be taken three times in order to get enough credits to graduate. I was thinking today about how "engaged" UVU is in my education. Perhaps UVU is the most engaged university for general education, perhaps in some other ways, but it's also deluded. To think the administration thinks everything in the school is just fine ("the state of the University is Great!" ~Liz Hitch) is like saying the crime rate in New York 15 years ago was acceptable. We have less than 200 students in a stadium made for 8000 when we have basketball games, when we play against teams from instate they have close to 10 times the amount of fans in our stadium than we have, and even out of state teams have more fans in the stands than we do.
Is the AVC (Art & Visual Communications) dept. actively engaged in my education? yes. It's a hands on department, other departments should be taking lessons from AVC classes, as they have some of the best applied forms of education that I can think of. If you want to learn how to write, write, don't read about writing, write more. If you want to learn how to interact with people with social, hormonal, mental imbalances, etc, work with them, work around them, observe them, reading about them only does so much. The principle is simple. Is the UVU AVC dept. more engaged in my life as a student (or any of the AVC students) than any other art school? No. The Academy of Art University in SanFrancisco would throw it's arms up in the air if they heard Liz Hitch yapping. So would the Brooks Institute of Photography. I'm assuming NYU would also, and they're a diversified university much like UVU but their faculty is so developed they're competing against schools like the Brooks Institute of Photography (who at one point had been THE place to go to, I'm not sure if they still are as I've heard conflicting reports about them in recent years). So, is UVU AVC the most engaged in the Universe? No.
The UVU school photographer is a UVSC dropout. He felt like he was learning more from reading up and practicing styles from Adams, Weston, Eggleston, Bresson and others, and he dropped out. He's now the school's photographer. Beat out a UVU(UVSC?) graduate. When he was new at it he went to the only full-time faculty the Photo Dept. has. He asked Simon for advice with a shoot he had coming up, Simon asked "what's your budget?" "$80,000"......"I've never shot anything with a budget that large, I don't know what to tell you". I learned more about lighting in a technical sense from sitting in on a shoot with the school photographer than I ever gained from Simon in a lighting class that lasted a term long. Is UVU engaged in my needs? Is it the best place for me? Is it going to give me the education to compete against recent graduates and professionals alike? No. I don't feel like it is.
It's a hard place to be in. Knowing that if you stick with a place you're in that you'll end up shooting weddings the rest of your life because you can't compete with anyone else in the business. The quickest thing to do would finish the education at the place, regardless of the issues inherant with staying there. So what do you do? Apply to monster.com and have three job offers in 3 different states to teach photography? Look at jobs with newspapers and other places that are paying 150%-200% the going rate of the local jobs? Find and pray about a place that is right and see if there's not a school there that has a better education to be given? Yeah, probably. It would seem like the logical thing to do, logically speaking. There's a job in Jersey that I more than qualify for, I'm experienced and good at it, and feel like I could do well at it. It would be kind of an editor position from the sounds of it too, which would be skipping a step or two on the ladder. Am I considering it? Yeah. I would be close enough I could do classes at NYU, one or two a term while working full-time. I would love to go to NYU. I could get my BFA and MFA there and build a resume and real-life experience at the same time. Sure I wouldn't have my MFA for like 8-10 years from now if I started in the fall and was going to school minimally. To live near NYC, without living in it, to live in a safe place with a low cost of living (comparable or lower to that of Utah) where the pay is better..... It's very tempting.
But how do you tell the family?
Blog about it... lol
I would be making more than the camel. Did some pricing, found that we could easily afford a house in a good neighborhood. I guess I have to reply to the job listing and see if they're interested in me before I can really get an answer from above to see if it's right...
Either way, I never thought I'd be considering things like this without having my BFA already, but out of 60 Photography postings on Monster.com I haven't seen more than 3 that require a degree. One requires 7 years experience, another requires a Bachelors, the rest don't require anything more than experience, or proof that you can do the kind of work they're looking for. Portfolio.
I need to shoot more.
Again.
It started as frustrations with the program. It continued to build and hit a point in escalation when I was ready to walk away. I talked with some people, accepted their advice and stuck with it. I thought about it. And again. And again. And again. Over and over and over. It's never left my mind. Things like that tend to have a reason for sticking around. Not sure that I'm supposed to continue sticking with it... Wasn't sure of that when I decided to.
I was shooting the "State of the University" address this week. Interim President Liz Hitch was speaking, addressing faculty, staff, and a few students who actually chose to show up, about how the University was/is doing. She went on and on about UVU being the "most engaged university in the universe" and how great things are there and how despite a 15% cut-back in funding we're still doing good and not entirely in a hiring freeze.
She opened the forum up for Q&A. After some faculty asked some questions she fielded a question from the UVU Review (the UVU newspaper). The question was if the school was going to continue it's membership with a clubhouse as a perk for certain of it's higher-up faculty. The response was essentially that the Clubhouse is a one time investment and that it's a negligible factor financially wise. She then mentioned how we needed to cut back how much food we provided for events, how 4% of our budget each year through the various departments gets eaten up, literally. She went on to say how important it was for blah blah blah blah. She kept skirting around issues of employment, money, department needs, etc. If you don't believe me, I know where you can get the footage of the whole thing. I was one of the three camera ops recording the whole thing.
I can't recall all that she said, I just remember how livid I was (standing no more than 15 feet from her the whole time it was hard for me to keep my professionalism where I was so close I could have said things easily without anyone else hearing what was said........but I like my job and ultimately she could fire me, so I canned my thoughts) after what she said during the Q/A. I sent a annonymous e-mail to her later that day. I received a response from one of her assistants. It didn't say much.
I was thinking today, I had said to them I'd rather pay as much as $1000 more a term if it meant having better faculty and more than one full time faculty in my department and classes that didn't have to be taken three times in order to get enough credits to graduate. I was thinking today about how "engaged" UVU is in my education. Perhaps UVU is the most engaged university for general education, perhaps in some other ways, but it's also deluded. To think the administration thinks everything in the school is just fine ("the state of the University is Great!" ~Liz Hitch) is like saying the crime rate in New York 15 years ago was acceptable. We have less than 200 students in a stadium made for 8000 when we have basketball games, when we play against teams from instate they have close to 10 times the amount of fans in our stadium than we have, and even out of state teams have more fans in the stands than we do.
Is the AVC (Art & Visual Communications) dept. actively engaged in my education? yes. It's a hands on department, other departments should be taking lessons from AVC classes, as they have some of the best applied forms of education that I can think of. If you want to learn how to write, write, don't read about writing, write more. If you want to learn how to interact with people with social, hormonal, mental imbalances, etc, work with them, work around them, observe them, reading about them only does so much. The principle is simple. Is the UVU AVC dept. more engaged in my life as a student (or any of the AVC students) than any other art school? No. The Academy of Art University in SanFrancisco would throw it's arms up in the air if they heard Liz Hitch yapping. So would the Brooks Institute of Photography. I'm assuming NYU would also, and they're a diversified university much like UVU but their faculty is so developed they're competing against schools like the Brooks Institute of Photography (who at one point had been THE place to go to, I'm not sure if they still are as I've heard conflicting reports about them in recent years). So, is UVU AVC the most engaged in the Universe? No.
The UVU school photographer is a UVSC dropout. He felt like he was learning more from reading up and practicing styles from Adams, Weston, Eggleston, Bresson and others, and he dropped out. He's now the school's photographer. Beat out a UVU(UVSC?) graduate. When he was new at it he went to the only full-time faculty the Photo Dept. has. He asked Simon for advice with a shoot he had coming up, Simon asked "what's your budget?" "$80,000"......"I've never shot anything with a budget that large, I don't know what to tell you". I learned more about lighting in a technical sense from sitting in on a shoot with the school photographer than I ever gained from Simon in a lighting class that lasted a term long. Is UVU engaged in my needs? Is it the best place for me? Is it going to give me the education to compete against recent graduates and professionals alike? No. I don't feel like it is.
It's a hard place to be in. Knowing that if you stick with a place you're in that you'll end up shooting weddings the rest of your life because you can't compete with anyone else in the business. The quickest thing to do would finish the education at the place, regardless of the issues inherant with staying there. So what do you do? Apply to monster.com and have three job offers in 3 different states to teach photography? Look at jobs with newspapers and other places that are paying 150%-200% the going rate of the local jobs? Find and pray about a place that is right and see if there's not a school there that has a better education to be given? Yeah, probably. It would seem like the logical thing to do, logically speaking. There's a job in Jersey that I more than qualify for, I'm experienced and good at it, and feel like I could do well at it. It would be kind of an editor position from the sounds of it too, which would be skipping a step or two on the ladder. Am I considering it? Yeah. I would be close enough I could do classes at NYU, one or two a term while working full-time. I would love to go to NYU. I could get my BFA and MFA there and build a resume and real-life experience at the same time. Sure I wouldn't have my MFA for like 8-10 years from now if I started in the fall and was going to school minimally. To live near NYC, without living in it, to live in a safe place with a low cost of living (comparable or lower to that of Utah) where the pay is better..... It's very tempting.
But how do you tell the family?
Blog about it... lol
I would be making more than the camel. Did some pricing, found that we could easily afford a house in a good neighborhood. I guess I have to reply to the job listing and see if they're interested in me before I can really get an answer from above to see if it's right...
Either way, I never thought I'd be considering things like this without having my BFA already, but out of 60 Photography postings on Monster.com I haven't seen more than 3 that require a degree. One requires 7 years experience, another requires a Bachelors, the rest don't require anything more than experience, or proof that you can do the kind of work they're looking for. Portfolio.
I need to shoot more.
Again.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
I was naughty, but now I can change what colors my LED's glow......
So as a photographer I've run into complications as of late. I purchased a laptop (with it's 20" monitor people think I'm a bit nutty, but at the time it was a desktop replacement and where it has a duo-core 2.0 ghz processor I wasn't worried about the 256 mb video card {GPU} that it had, and I was naive enough to not realize to never ever ever buy ATI let alone ATI Mobility {which are really half of what you think they are, they steal half of their "power" from your ram} but I figured the 4 gigs of ram that I had would make up for the weak video card...again...naive). Wow, that was a bit long. I purchased it at the beginning of last year.
So, in August I was able to get money together and purchase CS3, it had a funny piece of paper taped to it saying that I was eligible for an upgrade. Oh well, whatever, I had the software I wanted right? About a month later I heard about CS4 coming out and got excited, I checked on the upgrade information and it turned out I was going to be getting a free suite upgrade (some guy in the bookstore said I'd probably be getting a flash upgrade or something because there was a new release ove the summer that he didn't think was in the DVD). He was wrong. Very wrong, I got the new toy!
Well, I got the software in October or so, was showing it off at school, even the art department didn't get their copies until a week or two before the end of school, (that little time but they're teaching on it this term, lol) so I was a bit proud of myself. The only issue I had was getting CS4 to actually run, I've mentioned most all of this before but CS4 runs off of the GPU as opposed to it's predecessors which all rans of the CPU(s), so at this point the video card (ram excluded) became very crucial. I wasn't able to utilize it's abilities on my laptop. Right now I have Photoshop open, and it's merging some 84 images into a 3D panoramic.
I cheated.
I was naughty.
The GPU in the laptop/notebook/beast of a machine, is irreplaceable, I can't pull it out and put in something else, and neither can Dell. It's that way with most notebooks, and as such the same with most all all-in-one computers.
I'm not doing this on my notebook/beast of a machine/laptop.
I was naughty.
I did comparison builds, I could make a machine from Mac that would run me around 8 grand, and it would be something I would hate the rest of my life. I could build an awesome nearly 6 grand machine from Dell that matched the specs from the Mac that I'd built. I also did a custom build through newegg.com From them the same machine (exactly the same as the Dell but with better components) would have run me just under 4 grand.
Some time passed by.
The need for it increased.
I tried some more builds.
We sold our microwave.
Turns out the guy we sold it to is a photographer, and we started talking, he told me about slickdeals.net I checked it out, there are some cool things there, but I didn't find anything I really was interested in, though it did take me to the Dell Outlet.
I started looking on the Dell outlet, figuring what I could get by without having, and what types of systems would still be customizable enough that I could get away with buying it now and upgrading it myself later.
Time passed (8 hours?)
I placed an order.
Time passed.
I did a comparison build through a student pricing available with Dell, and checked what the cost would be to make the same system at student pricing. $800 more than I was going to be paying.
Got the desktop today. Got a monitor today, the other one is coming early next week.
Found some toys on my system that I didn't know about.
As I looked under it's skirt I noticed it looked like there were two GPU's, but the system only says there's one. CS4 was saying something funny about a Graphics Accelerator. Turns out that Dell didn't mention, but the system came with a bonus item, a Graphics Accelerator. Now I have an 84 image compilation that made my laptop cry for hours, and I started it less than half an hour ago. Looks like the file is around 2gb in size and nothing has crashed, and nothing has slowed.
Another cool feature. Nvidia has software installed on my system that allows me to overclock my Ram, CPU, GPU, and motherboard. I can also control my fan's speeds manually, and there's 4 sections of LED lights that I can control their color...
I was naughty.
But I can finally utilize features of Photoshop that I wasn't able to use, and I did it all for under $2,500.
So, in August I was able to get money together and purchase CS3, it had a funny piece of paper taped to it saying that I was eligible for an upgrade. Oh well, whatever, I had the software I wanted right? About a month later I heard about CS4 coming out and got excited, I checked on the upgrade information and it turned out I was going to be getting a free suite upgrade (some guy in the bookstore said I'd probably be getting a flash upgrade or something because there was a new release ove the summer that he didn't think was in the DVD). He was wrong. Very wrong, I got the new toy!
Well, I got the software in October or so, was showing it off at school, even the art department didn't get their copies until a week or two before the end of school, (that little time but they're teaching on it this term, lol) so I was a bit proud of myself. The only issue I had was getting CS4 to actually run, I've mentioned most all of this before but CS4 runs off of the GPU as opposed to it's predecessors which all rans of the CPU(s), so at this point the video card (ram excluded) became very crucial. I wasn't able to utilize it's abilities on my laptop. Right now I have Photoshop open, and it's merging some 84 images into a 3D panoramic.
I cheated.
I was naughty.
The GPU in the laptop/notebook/beast of a machine, is irreplaceable, I can't pull it out and put in something else, and neither can Dell. It's that way with most notebooks, and as such the same with most all all-in-one computers.
I'm not doing this on my notebook/beast of a machine/laptop.
I was naughty.
I did comparison builds, I could make a machine from Mac that would run me around 8 grand, and it would be something I would hate the rest of my life. I could build an awesome nearly 6 grand machine from Dell that matched the specs from the Mac that I'd built. I also did a custom build through newegg.com From them the same machine (exactly the same as the Dell but with better components) would have run me just under 4 grand.
Some time passed by.
The need for it increased.
I tried some more builds.
We sold our microwave.
Turns out the guy we sold it to is a photographer, and we started talking, he told me about slickdeals.net I checked it out, there are some cool things there, but I didn't find anything I really was interested in, though it did take me to the Dell Outlet.
I started looking on the Dell outlet, figuring what I could get by without having, and what types of systems would still be customizable enough that I could get away with buying it now and upgrading it myself later.
Time passed (8 hours?)
I placed an order.
Time passed.
I did a comparison build through a student pricing available with Dell, and checked what the cost would be to make the same system at student pricing. $800 more than I was going to be paying.
Got the desktop today. Got a monitor today, the other one is coming early next week.
Found some toys on my system that I didn't know about.
As I looked under it's skirt I noticed it looked like there were two GPU's, but the system only says there's one. CS4 was saying something funny about a Graphics Accelerator. Turns out that Dell didn't mention, but the system came with a bonus item, a Graphics Accelerator. Now I have an 84 image compilation that made my laptop cry for hours, and I started it less than half an hour ago. Looks like the file is around 2gb in size and nothing has crashed, and nothing has slowed.
Another cool feature. Nvidia has software installed on my system that allows me to overclock my Ram, CPU, GPU, and motherboard. I can also control my fan's speeds manually, and there's 4 sections of LED lights that I can control their color...
I was naughty.
But I can finally utilize features of Photoshop that I wasn't able to use, and I did it all for under $2,500.
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