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 |  Writings about things that have occurred in my life. Not in Chronological Order |
| Things that have happened in my life, good or bad. The entries will not be in Chronological order |
Submarines I'm going back in time in this entry. Back to my previous life as I like to call it. If you've read anything I've written, you might remember that I served in the Submarine Service of the US Navy for 20 years. I thought I'd share with you a little about submarine life, and the inherent dangers of being on a submarine. First things first. Submarines don't have windows! There's no way to see where you're going underwater. The Navigation team uses charts to plot their course based on their location known when they were on the surface last. Knowing the speed of the boat, the direction they are headed, plus more that I'm not aware of, they can plot a course. So far, so good, more on this later. Once you're underway, life becomes routine really. A day is 18 hours long. It consists of 6 hours on watch, 12 hours off. In that 12 hour period, you have to get any needed maintenance done, work on your qualifications (if you haven't yet earned your dolphins, or needed to qualify on a different watchstation), be woken from a sound sleep due to alarm sounding, usually due to drills. We had drills almost every day from noon to 6 pm, mainly in the Engineroom where I stood watch. Oh yeah, and sleep. In that 12 hours, you might be lucky to get 4-5 hours of blissful rest. There were many times where I worked around the clock, standing 6 hours of watch, worked 12 hours, stood 6 hours more of watch, work a little more, then rest. I only did that when I was sure that no drills would be run. At least I never had to hot-bunk. That's where two of you share a bed, but not at the same time! One would be on watch, the other sleeping, and vice versa. I stood many a Port & Starboard' watch, that's where you stand watch 6 hours, have 6 hours off, and repeat. This would continue until someone qualified on that watchstation, allowing you to move to the 6 on 12 off schedule. The cooks served meals every 6 hours, coordinating with the change of watchstanders so you could eat before and after your watch. Submarine food is well known for being above average, so it was always good for me. I remember being in port one time, and having the general alarm sound. On my plate was about 3-4 Alaskan King Crab legs. But with the alarm sounding, I had to get up and 'do my duty'. It turns out that the alarm was due to a problem on the pier, but a problem with the electrical supply, which my division was responsible for. I didn't get back below deck until about an hour later, and of course my King Crab legs were gone. Such is life.... Let's get back to the idea of cruising underwater without being able to see where you're going. Do this for me. Imagine you're driving your car, but the windows are all covered so you can't see a thing. You get in the car at your house and back out the driveway. Based on your speed and direction, you know how long to back up. Then you turn to straighten the car on the road, then start driving to the local store. All the while, you can't see where you're going, but based on your speed and direction, you know where you are. EXCEPT one day, the city has started doing maintenance, and you weren't informed. Instead of getting to the store safely, you end up hitting a post that was placed in road. It's the same for a submarine underwater. The charts being used must be up to date, or there's no telling what could happen. Maybe something like this.  That's the USS San Francisco after she collided with an underwater mountain at about 25 knots. The inner hull is intact, saving the crew from a grisly death. One crewmember did die in the accident, but he died when they tried to transfer him off the boat to a helicopter while still at sea. They had to shift the position of the stretcher so it was vertical to get it out of the hatch. Doing so caused the problems with his circulation, he died on that stretcher while being lifted. It turns out the charts they were using were out of date, and showed that underwater mountain to be about 25 miles away. If you hear of a submarine has gone missing, is late getting into port, or not heard from, say a prayer. Most likely the boat is on the bottom of the ocean in a few thousand pieces. About 99% of the ocean is too deep for any submarine to survive. When it goes down, it gets to a depth called 'crush depth'. It's exactly what it sounds like. The submarine implodes, then explodes. The explosion is caused by hydraulic fluid and oil that is compressed. It can only be compressed so much before it explodes. When that Argentinian submarine was missing a few years ago, several friends asked me what I thought. I just said, "Pray for the crew, because they're all dead." My friends didn't believe me at first, until I explained to them the 'facts of life' about submarines. Okay, enough of the class on submarines, and their inherent dangers. There's far more I could tell you, but you would get bored reading about it, nor is there enough room to get this all typed in. Till next time, y'all be good, take care of yourselves, and love those who love you. |
You Call This Being On Vacation? This week was a week of scheduled Flexible Time Off (FTO). Yeah, they've renamed something as simple as vacation once again. First renaming I recall, was Paid Time Off (PTO), that was so long ago that I don't remember if vacation was called something else before PTO. My wish (it's just a wish, no one would ever listen to me about things like this), is to leave the old names alone. Vacation is vacation, you're not working, you don't have to get anything done during the scheduled week, etc. I just wish they'd leave things alone and not think up new names. Are they going to eventually rename everything? If so, can we permanently change things in the process? Oh wait, I won't go there because it will end up being a rant and turn you all off, if you're not turned off already. This post isn't about that; it's really about how I spent my week of 'vacation'. Originally I had planned on going to Alabama this week to visit my daughter. Wednesday was her birthday, I've had this week scheduled since way back in January, celebrating her birthday was gravy on top of being able to see her and the kids. My youngest daughter had planned on watching the dogs for us which would have made things even better. But..... as I like to say, "Sometimes, the best laid plans of mice and men......" Yeah, nothing I planned came to pass. Obviously we didn't go because our 'dog sitter' just started a new job, and was in training this week. Since she lives in Decatur, about 45 miles south of Bloomington, it just wasn't possible for her to do both. Yes, we still could have gone and taken the dogs (3) with us. I mean, I bought this nice van almost 2 years ago just for things like this. But a certain someone (not me!) finally admitted to being uncomfortable traveling across the country, even if only from Illinois to Alabama. With COVID rearing its ugly head again, the feeling of discomfort is even greater. So, we didn't go. Another thought was that if my manager doesn't want me traveling on business, should I really be traveling for pleasure? I'm not sure which is safer, business travel, or personal travel. Better to be safe than sorry. So I had a week off, yay! Oh wait, I put myself on notice this week though. I have a one day, 2-hour class a week from Monday, and the Powerpoint slideshow hasn't changed since I wrote it almost 10 years ago! Now it's a 'simple' class, covering the programming of what's called a radio consolette. The PPT includes numerous screenshots from the programming software, provided mainly as reference for the students. Those screenshots were made using the old software, something around version 8. We are on version 24 now, and while the screens are still very similar, to me the screenshots just scream, "Look at me! I'm 10 years out of date!" A pdf file version of the PPT is provided to the students for their reference and retention. You know what they say about 'First Impressions'. You only have a chance to make that one time. Plus, I absolutely refuse to use outdated materials like that. So, I spent 3 days of the week creating new screenshots for use. All for a 2-hour class. I figured I was home, didn't have to worry about what I did this week, had nothing 'official' to do, could leave when I want/if I want, etc. So, I worked when I wanted, napped as needed, and got things done. Still, quite the vacation, huh. I also personalized those Fleetmapping course materials for a class next week. Another small task I did this week was to participate in two conference calls with a customer I will deliver a tailored class to in 3 weeks. The course materials aren't an issue, I've delivered this same class to them 4 times already in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Colorado. But I went to their sites for those classes. This one will be virtual of course. They are part of the Federal Government, and can only use Microsoft Teams for their online meetings. Zoom is blocked by their IT department, as is Google Meet and Adobe Connect. Microsoft Teams is blocked by my employer, so what to do, what to do? I figured out that I could install Microsoft Teams if I ran the install program as an administrator. Still, I couldn't sign in using my company login, it kept redirecting me back to my original page. So I decided to try my home email, and voila! I was 'in like Flint'. Today we had a brief conference call/meeting to verify they could access the virtual meeting room using a link I provided (I don't see why they wouldn't be able to, unless their IT department had certain companies blocked). A possibility, but it didn't seem very realistic to me. Fifteen minutes together in the room and we were set. So yes, a week of vacation, but a working vacation just the same. That's fine by me, I'm home, doing what I want and relaxing. I even managed to have a bit of Rum, and later, Bourbon during the day Tuesday and Thursday. Something I wouldn't have done if I wasn't on vacation. Enough of all this, I hope y'all are well, remaining safe and healthy during these trying times. Above all, I hope you always feel the love that others share with you. Til next time, be safe, be healthy, be free! Most of all, be happy.   |
I've been chatting with one of my co-workers recently. He has the same form of Cancer I do, yet this disease is supposed to be rare, occurring in less than 1% of the population. I can't fathom how two people in a small group of 16 can both have this illness then. Just goes to show, huh. Yes, 16. We have 16 instructors who cover the USA, Canada, and help cover classes around the world. There are other trainers in Asia, Europe, Australia and such, for a total of maybe 40 of us. Yes, I do feel very fortunate to be where I am. By the way, I may be retiring in the not too distant future. Who wants to take my place?  Anyway, on to the real reason for this post. He and I were chatting about the use of Virtual Machines in our systems, and how he has a Nuk at home, configured with a virtual radio system from Motorola. The thing is, his Virtual Machine (VM) is about the size of the average home router! Our support staff at work, those who maintain our system and it's numerous databases, order parts, etc, configured this for him. I'm all excited because he wants another co-worker, and myself to receive the other two that are sitting in the office/lab. First, being a computer nut, I'd love it. Second though, it would make some of my course deliveries a lot easier. Let me explain. We use Adobe Connect for our online class deliveries. Adobe offers a really good interface, the ability to share files, video, chat, etc. The problem with Adobe is, when we log onto our VPN at work, as we often have to in order to access our systems remotely, the connection speed drops to the Kbps range, while my internet connection remains in the 200+ Mbps range! This can cause audio issues, and connection drops. Fortunately, I don't seem to suffer as much as some instructors do, but there are moments. So imagine that all of a sudden, you don't have to log onto the VPN to access a database, it's right there next to you! Yes, it would (will) have its limitations, such as physical access to devices. However, there are 5-6 classes I could deliver using something like that, and never use the VPN. Life would be so easy! (Like it's so hard for me right now... Sheesh!) Now it's a wait and see game. Will he convince the powers that be that I should have one of these 'toys'? Only time will tell. If they say no to one of those small Nuk's, there's always an older HP DL360 server sitting in the system that I maintain, doing nothing at all. True, it's not small (19" wide, about 2" high, and 36"long!), and would make my electric bill jump some. The answer there is, power it on only when needed. I have a lot to learn about this, and powering it on and off might not be the best thing. We'll see. In the meantime, I wait. |
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