I'm home for my first real leave period. Class on Friday felt like high school, where everyone was restless right before vacation. As we got the top copy of our leave chits, and were released for our stand down period, everyone WALKED as fast as they could out of the building and into their vacation.
The first month of power school was great - it's nothing like I expected, but everything that I expected. By that I mean, I couldn't have imagined what or how I would learn, but I knew it would be insanely hard.
My weeks are 80 hrs at least. I wake up at 4am during the week, around 8 on Saturday (sleeping in by any means), and 7 on Sunday to get back into an early wake up schedule.
No further alligator sightings - it has gotten quite cold so he/she probably went into some warm winter cabin.
I've been making the most of my winter leave with:
sleeping
climbing (on REAL rock, finally!)
cycling
golfing (which I actually hate)
having friends visit (buddies from the east coast and west coast)
painting (and realizing how hard it is)
Before I know it, power school will be over, and I'll be at prototype, then my boat.
On a somber note, another accident involving a US Submarine has occurred:
Two U.S. sailors die after falling from submarine
POSTED: 1:04 p.m. EST, December 29, 2006
Apparently, a few sailors fell off in rough weather and two of them died as they were hanging off the deck in the water, periodically being drowned.
I mourn the loss of the two sailors, and am cringing at the impending fallout from this tragedy. Who's idea was it to put sailors on the deck in foul weather? Who will take responsibility?
Pour one out for the homies...
It's strange that all modern casualties on US Navy Submarines are non-nuclear; indicative to how safe nuclear power is (due to the vigilance of our sailors). However it also shows how dangerous a shipboard environment is.
Respect
Friday, December 29, 2006
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Begin reactor start up sequence
I just finished pre-nuclear power school, a 3 week course to bring individuals up to speed on math, physics, and heat transfer. The best part of PNPS was that it got be back into the studying tempo, which will help me keep up come Monday.
I graduate at the end of May 07.
So begins the rest of the next 6 months of my nuclear powered career.
I am truly looking forward to learning about nuclear power, and applying it to the world's impending (or some would argue, current) energy crisis, directly, or in the form of power systems in general.
Technology-wise, in order for the human race to progress, we need:
1. Clean, renewable, economically feasible power generation
2. Space exploration and colonization
The latter cannot be achieved without the first, so I'll get cracking!
Back to the topic of power school:
There is an alligator that lives in the front pond of the complex. I've seen him only once - he (or she?) is a decent size - about 5 feet long. There are also turtles that come out to sunbathe when the sun is out - nature watching is a welcome break from the rigors of this program.
More on the reptilian residents of Rickover pond to come!
Fair winds and following seas...
I graduate at the end of May 07.
So begins the rest of the next 6 months of my nuclear powered career.
I am truly looking forward to learning about nuclear power, and applying it to the world's impending (or some would argue, current) energy crisis, directly, or in the form of power systems in general.
Technology-wise, in order for the human race to progress, we need:
1. Clean, renewable, economically feasible power generation
2. Space exploration and colonization
The latter cannot be achieved without the first, so I'll get cracking!
Back to the topic of power school:
There is an alligator that lives in the front pond of the complex. I've seen him only once - he (or she?) is a decent size - about 5 feet long. There are also turtles that come out to sunbathe when the sun is out - nature watching is a welcome break from the rigors of this program.
More on the reptilian residents of Rickover pond to come!
Fair winds and following seas...
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Road Trip To Charleston, SC
I arrived in Charleston on 29 Nov, after a great road trip with great friends.
Here is a synopsis of the trip:
Departed San Diego on a Monday
Drove 19 hrs straight to Austin, TX, rotating between the 3 of us.
One of my buddies got a ticket for going 86 in an 85 zone in West Texas... :(
We spent 2 nights in Austin, seeing the nightlife, and daylife - their modern art museum was meager, but there were a lot of cool small galleries. The only downer was that it was raining the whole time. We paced a giant rainstorm all the way to New Orleans
We left the next morning to New Orleans, arriving in the afternoon - we went all out in New Orleans, staying at the Inn on Bourbon - a great location. We even got a balcony room.
New Orleans was a blast, and we left 2 nights later, to Atlanta.
The drive to Atlanta was pleasant, and we arrived on Saturday evening, spending the night there and leaving the next morning - the drive to Charleston took us through Augusta, where we had lunch at a great pit bbq place.
The road trip really gave me a perspective onto the rest on the country - as a native Californian that has travelled more internationally than domestically, I saw a lot of new things. Hardees is Carls. Jr?
I ate Sonic for the first time.
All the cities we drove through were new to me as well. Austin was a very college-y town. The French Quarter had a distinct smell - I'll just say it gave it "character." We stopped in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for gas - we drove by 10 gas stations until we could find one that was open - the rest had been destroyed by a hurricane...
Charleston is a vastly different place than San Diego or Los Angeles - and I'm slowly acclimating myself. I'm getting a mixed experience as far as "Southern Hospitality" goes - a friend who had lived in the South told me that Southern Hospitality can sometimes mean two-faced. Fine by me, as long as I get served at Cracker Barrel! HAH!
I'm staying with a buddy right now, and am moving to my own place in downtown soon.
As planned, I'm beginning to see the world!
Here is a synopsis of the trip:
Departed San Diego on a Monday
Drove 19 hrs straight to Austin, TX, rotating between the 3 of us.
One of my buddies got a ticket for going 86 in an 85 zone in West Texas... :(
We spent 2 nights in Austin, seeing the nightlife, and daylife - their modern art museum was meager, but there were a lot of cool small galleries. The only downer was that it was raining the whole time. We paced a giant rainstorm all the way to New Orleans
We left the next morning to New Orleans, arriving in the afternoon - we went all out in New Orleans, staying at the Inn on Bourbon - a great location. We even got a balcony room.
New Orleans was a blast, and we left 2 nights later, to Atlanta.
The drive to Atlanta was pleasant, and we arrived on Saturday evening, spending the night there and leaving the next morning - the drive to Charleston took us through Augusta, where we had lunch at a great pit bbq place.
The road trip really gave me a perspective onto the rest on the country - as a native Californian that has travelled more internationally than domestically, I saw a lot of new things. Hardees is Carls. Jr?
I ate Sonic for the first time.
All the cities we drove through were new to me as well. Austin was a very college-y town. The French Quarter had a distinct smell - I'll just say it gave it "character." We stopped in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for gas - we drove by 10 gas stations until we could find one that was open - the rest had been destroyed by a hurricane...
Charleston is a vastly different place than San Diego or Los Angeles - and I'm slowly acclimating myself. I'm getting a mixed experience as far as "Southern Hospitality" goes - a friend who had lived in the South told me that Southern Hospitality can sometimes mean two-faced. Fine by me, as long as I get served at Cracker Barrel! HAH!
I'm staying with a buddy right now, and am moving to my own place in downtown soon.
As planned, I'm beginning to see the world!
Saturday, October 07, 2006
First post, First protest
As of late, I have been attached to a local recruiting head quarters. We have a large coverage area and are at the height of recruiting season, as school has just started on college campuses. I work with the officer programs office, which means we recruit for officers - specifically on college campuses because officers are required to have college degrees.
Today was my second recruitment fair. It was quite a production, as the navy brought in marketing subcontractors to help out, and we had all sorts of stuff, including this giant inflatable navy balloon, shirts, hats, etc., free food, etc.
There were rumors of a planned protest. The rumors were true.
The protesters has signs such as "accelerate your death" (hehe kinda funny), "officers = soliders, officers kill people too!", and "does dropping bombs on kids sound like fun to you?"
The protesters were a mixture of men and women, but more women. A few of them were muslim - merely an observation, not any sort of correlational implication. All of the protesters were minorities, and predominantly latino. We were targeting latinos for officer programs that day with spanish language ads and so forth.
I ignored them for most of the day, however as the day went on, they became more belligerent and aggressive, finally standing right outside of our tent and screaming. A senior enlisted individual got into quite an argument, but no screaming took place on the navy side, which I am proud of.
I'm enjoying my short stint as a recruiter. It's directly supporting the Navy and it's goals, and in turn our nations interests.
To the foam.
Today was my second recruitment fair. It was quite a production, as the navy brought in marketing subcontractors to help out, and we had all sorts of stuff, including this giant inflatable navy balloon, shirts, hats, etc., free food, etc.
There were rumors of a planned protest. The rumors were true.
The protesters has signs such as "accelerate your death" (hehe kinda funny), "officers = soliders, officers kill people too!", and "does dropping bombs on kids sound like fun to you?"
The protesters were a mixture of men and women, but more women. A few of them were muslim - merely an observation, not any sort of correlational implication. All of the protesters were minorities, and predominantly latino. We were targeting latinos for officer programs that day with spanish language ads and so forth.
I ignored them for most of the day, however as the day went on, they became more belligerent and aggressive, finally standing right outside of our tent and screaming. A senior enlisted individual got into quite an argument, but no screaming took place on the navy side, which I am proud of.
I'm enjoying my short stint as a recruiter. It's directly supporting the Navy and it's goals, and in turn our nations interests.
To the foam.
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