So Marty’s gone to SBIRS and I’m back on planner shifts covering schedule backfill for the next three weeks. Nice change of pace. Still no takers on my job applications.
In the Home Stretch
Just around the clubhouse turn looking to finish up the IKONOS gig in little more than a month. The 13th of June should be my last day on the job with Lockheed as I hope to be headed up into the mountains for a camping trip the following Monday and expect to take vacation for the remainder of the time until the layoff takes effect on June 30th. Being around the guys I’ve worked with all these years those last days would just feel too awkward.
The only fly in the ointment is that little cardio condition of mine just now coming to the fore. It’s quite likely I’ll be on disability leave at some point during that time if the chest pain turns out to call for the standard angioplasty treatment I’m expecting. A couple more visits to the hospital for some tests should have that scoped out (literally) soon. I’m going to be disappointed if I have to postpone the camping trip because of it.
Advanced Landscaping
This year’s big spring project is a backyard pond, complete with a stream and waterfall. I’ve come up with what I believe are some quite good ideas utilizing a few custom (as usual!) engineering features that should make it a way cool addition to the now nearly complete outdoor environment around our home. Stay tuned to replies on this post for further details…
Megan Came to Visit
And it took less than half a day for them to get into trouble. Juvenile delinquent friends obviously tend towards this propensity, but then again teenage girls are from all indications I see, borderline sociopaths in many cases anyway. Put two of them like that together (Phoebe and Megan) and the stage is set.
So they decided to disappear in the middle of the night ostensibly to visit Phoebe’s boy toy Dom, who claimed to be having another one of his “episodes.” I just hope he’s not really suicidal. When the boys get unstable too, all bets are off. Why does raising kids seem to be so challenging for so many (other) people? I’ll take a WAG and put it on stupid parents. They either had kids too early and/or had too many of their own issues to sensibly add kids to the mix. Add it to the list of things I find rather annoying when other people’s stupidity infringes on my world.
2014 Job Search
Having been officially notified of our pending layoffs June 30th, the job search is proceeding apace. I’m phone interviewing for a Lockheed position at Deer Creek Tuesday and a hiring manager from the USDA has indicated my resume appears interesting for a Ft. Collins position they are hiring for.
Grandma Shaffer
Barbara came to visit for a week over Francie’s birthday this year. She seems to be doing well, same as ever.
Deadlines and Timelines
The Lockheed staff on the Ikonos program waits with baited breath as we approach the end of March reaching the previously stated deadline for formal 90-day notification of Task Order 2 termination (Operations). Practically speaking, the timeline for sustaining operations would seem to extend well beyond that with only one qualified DG operator trained, 1 well along and 3 others just starting. But DigitalGlobe has been known to meet Ikonos deadlines regardless of the practical implications before. So the consensus is next week our operators should expect to be told they are being let go as of 30 June.
Sebring Survives
I’m kinda proud of the way the 2002 Chrysler Sebring we bought new just before I retired from the AF in Colorado Springs has made it to 145k miles. The 2.7 engine in it is notorious for some catastrophic failure modes involving the timing set and water pump systems and associated sludge issues. Poor design maybe, but I believe the oil bypass filter I installed early in it’s life did the trick. The only costly repair we’ve done to it in 12 years ownership was the water pump which failed normally last year with an obvious slow weep hole leak. They are known to fail leaking internally fouling the oil with resultant massive damage.
I am re-installing that bypass filter today after it’s rubber lines finally degraded beyond further repair. We were lucky the car didn’t die from an oil leak due to that after I found it leaking with the umpteenth bad hose connection and 2 quarts low after Phoebe brought it home one day last week. This one last time I will re-install the bypass with copper lines and compression fittings for the long haul. After a few more maintenance items coming up in the near future like struts, CV joints, injectors, coils and maybe a cat gut we’ll see how long it goes. It’s all icing on the cake now for a car that was reputed to be one of the worst of it’s era. Just goes to show what the “pundits” know.
Walking Tool(s) in Public Use
Used the cane getting in and out of the building at work yesterday and again today. Leg seems to be getting better, but frustrated to find myself visibly crippled in public these days.
It Sucks to get Old
55 this year, and not really holding up as well as I had hoped. Right hip replacement back in January 2013 went well, but the rest of my joints are not far behind. Slipped on ice out back about a month ago and severely strained the right thigh. Hip seemed OK at the time, but not so sure now. The prosthesis pin has become increasingly painful and the first steps out of bed this morning were really bad. I’m using one of the crutches again.
Son of a…!!
Crunchbang (#!) It Is!
During the process of bringing Francie’s old laptop out of retirement a few weeks ago, I was looking around trying to decide what OS to install and stumbled on an unfamiliar Linux distro I decided to use called “Crunchbang.” A Brit bloke from Lincoln, UK going by the handle “corenomial” organizes and provides it as a minimalist Debian system. How did I go all these recent years unaware of this little gem in the midst of the hopelessly splintered Linux ecosystem? I’ve browsed Distrowatch a time or 2, but somehow never came across it.
So in three short weeks I have completed migrating almost my entire home network to #!. Only the Apple side of the house and the two oldest PCs going with older Redhat versions as their primary OS, simply without the processing power to run a modern kernel remain un-banged. If you are tired of the bloatware, distracting eye candy and commercial creep being seen in the Linux world today give #! a try. I bet you see it my way, too.
My VA Conundrum
I’m starting to believe the U.S. Dept. of Veterans’s Affairs (VA) might be one of the most bureaucratically inept organizations I have ever dealt with. That seems especially unfortunate to me, because I have nothing but praise and thanks for the work of the VA medical professionals I’ve interacted with over the past few years at the Denver and Cheyenne VA hospitals.
Like many, they and all their support personnel are just trying to do a difficult job under difficult circumstances. The disability claims debacle on the other side of the VA house is well known in the military and veteran’s communities, and currently problematic for me. It’s almost like the VA has reached a paradoxical point of “too big to fail” and “too big to fix” at the same time. So now 11 years after retirement from the Air Force, fighting a losing battle with arthritis (right hip already replaced) the VA claims people have denied my claim.
A Breath of Fresh Air
It’s a bit difficult to say under the circumstances, but seeing the DG operators working the system, doing their own thing, looking at it with a critically unbiased eye, really is a breath of fresh air. I’m starting to believe the dramatic changes now underway will eventually in the long run outweigh any personally negative feelings we may have regarding Lockheed losing the program, at least for as long as Ikonos lasts. Looks like things will now be proceeding in a real team environment.
One of my biggest, if not only really substantive complaint was the inflexible, almost dogmatic way operations were implemented. “That’s the way it’s always been done” was the tacity approved modus operandi. Innovation, analysis or any attempted change to the status quo was actively stifled. The very few people with any control selfishly administered this oppressive environment with an iron hand.
Good riddance to that.
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Exactly When Did Smartphones Become Brain Extensions?
I mean, I don’t need a handheld computer-communications device to do my thinking for me. Why does daughter #2 seem to have this attitude? Seems she cannot be picked up from school at the appointed, agreed-to time without getting a text notification of transportation standing by curbside.
WTF?
I don’t think so. Be on time, be there, use your brain, not your phone, thank you very much.