NY-23

Go Hoffman!

On a different subject, I saw a few minutes of 60 minutes after the football game. They were doing a story on pirated movies. Some guy was being tried for filming a move in the theater. He had taken a small video camera with him, sat in the back row, and made his own copy of the movie. It's a crime, no dispute. At the trial, movie pirate brought his family. The prosecutor (or whoever the person they were interviewing was) said that when the movie pirate was illegally filming the movie, his family was with him. The interviewer was shocked, SHOCKED, SHOCKED that this low-down dirty criminal would take his family to . . . watch a movie. The "outrage" was, I guess, aimed at taking his family while committing a crime. But, really? It's not like he was robbing a bank. He was watching a movie, holding a camera. Separately, those activities scream "family time." But, this reporter was just SHOCKED at his blatent disregard for . . . something.

I started flipping back to the movie pirating story when I got bored with the rerun of Next Iron Chef. The next piece I saw was about the bit torrent system of file sharing. Reporter lady explained it well enough - large file broken into small pieces, pieces transmitted back and forth. Then, the "expert" explained that the software would collect the pieces and reassemble them into a full watchable movie. Reporter lady was amzed that such technology exists. You mean we have things called . . . com-put-ers . . . which can perform a task that's quite often the first game an infant is given? What a technological marvel!

The Bells! THE BELLS!!!

Home

Yes, I'm back in Harvest, but that's not what this title refers to.

At the airport at Colorado Springs when I was checking in, there was a young woman with two little kids right behind me in line. The older girl (maybe 4 years old) had a homemade sign that said, "Welcome home, SSG Daddy." Apparently, it is possible to get a gate pass these days (at least at the Colorado Springs airport) because they all made it to the gate I was departing from. There was another mother there with 3 kids, older than the first family, but the same reason. The second child from the family I saw at the bag check was an infant, and a little one at that. I wondered if this would be the first time SSG Daddy met his second child. The plane starts emptying. I don't know if it was intentional or just worked out that way, but the 3-child father was the first off the plane, and SSG Daddy wasn't far behind. Once the SSG came out, his older daughter ran up to him at the gate, still proudly clutching her sign. Mom held the baby and waited a little farther back. It was very touching. One of the people I was travelling with said it made her tear up. I made no such claim. (Note the careful wording.)

Also on the flight was a large-ish group of Pittsburgh firefighters. A couple were talking to one of the arriving soldiers, going out of their way shaking his hand. I wondered if the soldiers had been overseas (it's likely they had been). That would make the family moments even sweeter.

On the flight out, there was another young soldier and his wife and young daughter. Families and heroes, all over the place. More tomorrow (or not).

In the Coner

No, I didn't forget an "r" from that word. I'm referencing someone here who doesn't seem to realize that people (read: me) judge you when you mispronounce simple words like "corner." And we're dealing with issues that cause us to refer to the corner of things a lot (essentially, the middle doesn't ever give you problems in engineering, it's the edges of the design space, and when two edges come together, you have a corner.)

I keep putting off a stockpile run to Wal-Mart. Originally, we were going to know by today what the plan was. Now, we'll know by tomorrow. Tomorrow, we'll know by Friday. And I won't be able to buy groceries (OK, junk food) in bulk.

Homewood Suites has really stepped up their nightly receptions. (I can't call them dinners, because if we get free dinners, we're supposed to report that, and it counts against the per diem, but receptions are fine.) Last night, it was chicken cordon bleu, which was good, but needed marinara sauce. Tonight, the menu had "pepper steak," but the more correct term is fajitas. Those were good, too. The meat could have been a little more tender, but it was pretty tender and had a very nice flavor.

I needed some time away from people tonight, so I came back to the room earlier than usual. Being around people is very draining. That's the definition of an introvert, so I've been told. I don't disagree, but I've also worked to develop the necessary people skills for engineering (note: these are not the same people skills required for other jobs).

The big question of the night: go to bed early or go to bed really early? More tomorrow.

Things You Learn While on TDY

Are things you never wanted to know to begin with. At least in the case of some of the things I learned today. They shall not be repeated (in any type of traceable forum).

This morning, we get new security procedures. Yay! The level of security is cool, though. We do some important stuff, and it's the defense of our country we're talking about here.

My work home for as long as I'm out here is a room big enough for maybe 4 smallish cubicles. We have 20 workstations in it. Each workstation has 2 monitors, a laptop, and a desktop. The air conditioner can't keep up. It's toasty.

Free food from the hotel is awesome. Chicken cordon bleu, salad, rolls, lemonade.

I dislike this time change. More tomorrow.

Springs: Work Eternal

That's a twist on a play on an old saying ("hope springs eternal"). I confuse myself sometimes. Don't worry aboout it.

I'm in Colorado Springs (hence, "Springs" above refers to the place) for work. I have no idea how long I'll be here. I packed for 15 days, knowing that whatever the length, it wasn't going to be 15 days.

Musings from the trip:

On the flight out of Huntsville, there was a woman travelling with her young daughter. The girl was 3 or 4 at most. I hate to judge (well, I love to judge, I hate to judge on the record), but Mom was doing a terrible job. The cajoling and negotiating is pretty standard in parenting these days. (I won't let THAT tangent distract me right now.) But at one point, she "threatens" the little girl with "Daddy said to." Now, Daddy isn't on the trip with them (they were going to visit the mother / grandmother, and I presume working is better than in-laws any day of the week), so the threat carries zero actual weight. That's what ticks me off. I don't mind threats of punishment when they can be carried out ("eat you vegetables or no dessert" then actually WITHHOLD DESSERT if they don't eat the veggies). I hate empty threats to kids. It shows them you're a liar and conditions them never to expect consequences.

Then, right after we land in Dallas, we don't have a gate to go to (we were early), so they let us get up if we choose. Mom and daughter head for the lavatory. Mom tells daughter, "I'll give you a treat if you try to go . . . if you actually go." Strike 2. At least the change was immediate, but you can't go changing the triggers for reward or punishment. This could have been a one-time slip (I doubt it), but changing what's good enough in the middle of the activity doesn't work at any level.

Then, the little girl has an accident. The smelly kind. Mom doesn't get excessively loud or openly hostile (which is good, little kids have accidents, plus I could have been overestimating her age and she may just be potty training). She was, however, saying things that to an adult's ear were an inappropriate reaction to a child that age. I can't remember examples, but it was confidence-draining statements. Not quite as bad as "you big baby," but that type of thing. A lot of it was tone of voice, and I understand the environment and reaction, but little kids don't. It was an accident. Little kids have them. Sometimes adults to do. It's not the end of the world, and it's not something to emotionally punish a little kid about. And I felt that way while smelling it.

Tomorrow, I go to work. Tonight, the guy who was already here got finished about 6:45. Yep. More tomorrow.

Readiness? We Don't Need to Be Ready!

Next week, I will be attending a 4-day review for our next flight test. Today, I sat through the entire 4-day review. Well, not the whole thing. I left at 6:30. They were still going, and I think they're going back tomorrow morning. It was scheduled to be done today, but no one actually thought it would be.

The review is called a Readiness Review, and it's actually important. You don't just light the back end of these missiles and hope everything works in a major test like this. The problem is that with anything this major, there are known issues, unknown issues, and tons of pressure to get everything right.

It also looks like I'm going to be in Colorado Springs for the test event, possibly up to two weeks before the test. I don't mind the travel, but being gone for two weeks would bother me.

Just saw this: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html. It explains why writing my thesis went the way it did.

Well, that's my quick update. More eventually.

Chicks Dig the Longball

The Major League Baseball Homerun Derby is going on tonight in St. Louis, MO. As such, I'm distracted. More tomorrow.

Mmm, Steak

Lee and Jennifer came over tonight, and we grilled out. They brought chicken, and I cooked a New York strip steak. I made enough mashed potatoes for everyone, and they brought garlic bread. Dessert was homemade cookies and cream ice cream with Oreos.

The weekend overall was nice. I got some rest and got some work done in the yard and around the house. I still have more to get done, unfortunately. I have clean dishes in the dishwasher that need to be in the cabinets and dirty dishes that need to make it into the dishwasher or get washed.

I'll be in the office tomorrow, then I have three days of training. Friday, I'm taking comp time for a much-needed day off. I'll be in Memphis for some business, then a trivia competition at CBU Friday night. I suppose I'll also see my parents.

I don't think anyone even remembers this page exists, except the aforementioned Lee R. Allen, Esq., who only remembers it because it's linked to his own rarely-visited blog. Oh well, I guess it's better than other wastes of time I can think of. More tomorrow.

I Passed

After the second (and final) test, I now have enough points to definitively say I passed my training course. I still have to show up tomorrow because there's an attendance requirement (no more than 2 hours missed), but I can't fail based on score.

For the record, I was the first one done both days. On my first test, I got the 25 / 25 I mentioned yesterday. Today, I put forth much less effort and got 22 or 23 / 25 (I don't remember which).

Tomorrow is only a half day of training, then a half day of nothing. I'm going to try to go by the bank, then maybe a nap. More tomorrow.

200%

Today was the first of two tests in my training class. The grading breaks down to:

Test 1: 25 points
Test 2: 25 points
Presentation: 10 points
Participation: 40 points (8 per day)

I need 80 total points to graduate. The participation and presentation scores are gimmes, so start with 50. Then add the perfect score on the first test (I rock), and all I need to do is show up and write my name on the second test.

The title comes from a policy one of my professors at CBU: if the first person to turn in a test scored 100%, he was awarded a score of 200 / 100. I achieved this on the second test, so for the final I could not make a score that would cause me to fail the class. I only needed about a 15 to get an A.

Since this class is pass / fail, there's no promise of passing, but it's nice to take the pressure off for the last test.

In case it's hard to tell, school is my wheelhouse. I can take classes and pass tests in my sleep. It's not that work is harder than school, but the expectation is different. On a test, there's an answer, and I've spent close to 20 years developing skills to get to that answer. At work, there isn't a single answer. Sometimes, there's no answer at all. I'll develop that skill, too, I'm just not there yet.

I should explain the recent increase in blogging. Part of the reason is that training is different from real work. Real work is governed by all sorts of non-disclosures, classifications, and stories about people being fired for complaining about bosses. Real work is also tiring, and when I get home, I want to leave work at work. Training isn't work. Training doesn't have homework, and like I said, it's in my wheelhouse.

For the record, 4pm isn't 2400 hours; it's 1600 hours. If you're going to try to refer to military time, get it right. More tomorrow.

Mad Props, Yo

I had a better title, but I forgot what it was. This one works, though. Explanation to follow.

Training today wasn't awful. Well, it was awful, but less awful than real work would have been. The general format of the class is to discuss the topics then do an exercise related to the material. The discussions during the teaching segment tend to drag on a little bit, but the exercises seem to fold time trying to get everything into a PowerPoint for the presentation.

We're in groups of 6, and there will be a total of 6 presentations, so we each present once (I didn't want anyone to have trouble with that math). I chose to present this morning. It was the second set of presentations, so I had a lay of the land but didn't get stuck with something terrible. The topic was risk, which is really hard to do in a real program, but really easy when you can make up the answers. I felt I did a good job, and I think the instructor agreed. My group later pointed out that on at least one slide, I said essentially, "and here are a bunch of acronyms . . . moving on." I don't remember doing that, but I very well could have. My presentation had the most information (including a ton of individual risks that were asked for, but no one else went to the trouble to list) and looked pretty good (for the time I had to make it). I also answered all the questions the facilitator asked, mostly by making things up as I went.

This afternoon was another lesson and exercise. I didn't have to present, but the entire group works together to answer questions and prepare the material before the "leader" makes the presentation. As part of this exercise, we had to answer several questions and build a work breakdown structure (WBS). For those who aren't familiar with government contracts, a WBS is a detailed hierarchy of tasks required to complete a project. It's often very similar to an organization chart. The standard operating procedure is that the government provides the first (top) three levels of the WBS, and the contractor develops any additional levels (and usually there are several additional levels). Getting back to the story, for this task we had to answer several questions and build a sample WBS for the fictional project. I started right away building the WBS because I'm a formatting weeny, and I knew it would take a significant amount of time. I built the first draft of the WBS then got input from others in the group to finish it off. I gave it to the leader, and he incorporated it into the final presentation without looking at it much (he was still finishing another section).

During his presentation, he got his first good look at my WBS and remarked, "that's really good," and looked over at me, giving me props in front of the entire room and the teachers. The teacher also commented that it was a very good WBS for the time we had and especially liked some of the details we'd added. One was suggested by another group member, so it wasn't all me (and I gave him props, though not as loudly because it would have been impolite in class).

Tomorrow afternoon is the first test. It's open book / open notes, so it's just a matter of finding the answers in the materials. I could probably pass the class without looking for the answers, but why not spend the few extra seconds? If I do well on the first test, I can mostly ignore the second one with even less risk.

I want a bacon chocolate bar. More tomorrow.

You Know?

I'm in training this week, you know? You know, training like this, you know, requires some form of, you know, presentations. Not everyone is practiced at presenting, I understand, you know. There are some things that, you know, people should control during presentations.

I, um, realize that, um, President Obama isn't so, um, smooth without TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States), but, um, er, at least he can, um, turn on the silver tongue, you know?

I shouldn't be so hard on people, but when it becomes distracting, I'm easily distracted. Especially when it comes to something like this that I don't want to pay attention to anyway.

I have the same feeling about written documents. For our review that just occurred, I read a ton of documents. Most were pretty well written. One in particular was terrible. I think I had over 500 comments, mostly relating to grammar. I'm a grammar snob (and even more so for an engineer), but these were things I couldn't let go. One of the other reviewers made the comment that he wasn't a grammar teacher, but he felt like one reading these documents. This was from a front-line defense contractor. The quality control on the documentation was not where it needed to be. These errors don't need to show up in documents for government review.

Back to my training, I'd like to say things about all the stupid stuff the government is doing, but the big thing now in these classes is "non-attribution," meaning "what's said here, stays here." Hear, hear! Also, I don't really pay attention.

I wonder if they'd take off points if I took a pillow tomorrow? More tomorrow.

#@&! Training

I'm due a week of training, so that's where I'll be this week. I signed up to take this course in May but was bumped because someone didn't bother to meet their own training requirements and took precedence over me. I was upset more because it changed my planning than because I wanted to take the class. For each of these classes, there is some stupid introductory thing that I hate. The last class ntroduction was 3 Facts - 2 True, 1 False - and the group was to guess which was false. I know that for this class, there is an introductory engineering project that I've already been given the lowdown on. The answer, as it usually is on these projects, is to go simple. I'll try to write up my group's success or failure tomorrow night.

This three-day weekend has been disappointing in its TV marathons. More tomorrow.

Independence Day

I read this concept somewhere else, but I'm claiming it as my own:

Celebrating today by wishing others "Happy Fourth of July" is the equivalent of wishing others "Happy Holidays." You are taking out the entire meaning of the holiday. We aren't celebrating some day in the early summer. We are celebrating the Independence of our nation, and by extension, the freedom we have spread throughout the world.

Don't take our Independence out of Independence Day.

Permanent Job

Back in Systems Engineering, where I started this whole crazy internship. Not exactly the way I wnated things to go down, but the result is fine with me.

In a surprise "double whammy decision" the Supreme Court struck down Judge Sonia Sotomayor's decision in the Ricci case and declared her to be "one stupid idiot." More tomorrow.

Balance of the News

Willie Herenton, mayor of Memphis, announced his retirement today (+)
He's done that before and didn't follow through (-)

Michael Jackson, the pedophile, died of a heat attack (+)

Farrah Fawcett, the iconic actress whose poster led generations of young men to get socks dirty, passed away today (-)

I'd have to call it a down day from that news. Little boys are safer. It's not that Farrah was the same pinup anymore, but that image defined a generation.

A little closer to home; I'm home now. The flight from Hartford to Washington, D.C. was great - I had two seats to myself. The flight from DCA to Huntsville wasn't quite so good. I had about 2/3 of a seat to myself. I'm not a small guy, and airplane seats are small, but I fit in them. I like not having to, but I fit. My neighbor, however, did not. On top of that, he insisted on poking his elbow out every few minutes. I'm not a fan of requiring people to buy two seats, but there are people who do not fit into a single seat. There was another instance that didn't affect me, but a tall, big guy had a center seat and needed two. I know plane tickets are expensive (not that I've paid for any recently, but I see what they cost), but come on, people. And this coming from not a small person.

Royal Pains, USA summer series. Go watch it. More tomorrow.

Gov. Sanford

I'm so very glad to see news organization treating Gov. Sanford's (R-SC) extra-marital affair with the same respect for his family's privacy as they did with Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

Redux

Our Preliminary Design Review was going well today until we got to the Action Item review (the last thing before wrapping the meeting up). We'd taken actions, as happens at every meeting, and none of them seemed overly crazy to me (not that my opinion is worth anything). I'm going to have to establish a background here: we entered the review knowing that there were things that needed to be done. Moving at the speed of government, some things are always on-going and not complete when you enter a major review. We handle that problem with what's called a "pre-declared" action item. Everyone knows about it going in, and we all agree to the language, closure evidence, and estimated completion date. We had a few for our Requirements Review in January, and one was still open (mostly waiting on contract action, which takes freakin' forever). We opened another one leading up to this review. Then, we took about 15 - 20 actions during this two-day review. I can't go into details, but one of the actions we took during the review is very closely related to the predeclared action. And the government chair, 10 seconds before hanging up from the conference call, decides that the regular action is going to completely hold up our PDR. This comes on the heels of some other program decisions and opinions from the chair that made everyone think we were going have a pretty clean review.

After the chair hangs up, one of our guys insists on rehashing the issue 3 or 4 times. We all understood from the beginning, and we weren't the ones he needed to convince. The chair from the prime contractor was willing to proceed and sign off on the review (closure dependent on closing actions). He needed no further convincing. Arguing with people who agree with you and only want to leave is no way to win friends. Then, this guy insisted on going back in the presentation to prove his point. Again. The point everyone already agreed with. Except the guy who wasn't there anymore. Oy.

Lunch was the freakin' awesome pizza they order in about once a week. I'd had it several times on other visits, so I'd been hoping for it this trip. I'm not sure if I'll be back, for various reasons, and it was nice to go out on a good note with lunch.

The College World Series isn't bad. It suffers from a lack of attractive women in tight pants, but it's OK. More tomorrow.

Hyper Velocity Penetrator

Yep, that's what I said. That is a correct description of the cutting jet of a Linear Shape Charge, one of the coolest forms of explosive. The middle schooler in me still chuckles every time someone describes it that way.

Today was Day 1 of our 2-day preliminary design review. It went well. Lots of information about the process of getting here. Some very good information about the design. Design reviews aren't really engineering. The engineering has been done, and these are the reviews to present the results. There are big parts related to program management and documentation. The chairs of the review are chief engineers, so there's plenty of in-meeting engineering, but reviews themselves don't have a lot of fireworks (the way we do them, at least). So I've been chilling in the back of the room, watching the proceedings.

Tonight, the whole group went out to dinner. Not the best idea ever. The food was good, but with that many people, the service suffered. This place was better than the place we went after the lasy review, but 40 people will overwhelm any kitchen that doesn't expect them. Dinners and the like wear me out more than the technical reviews. Technical discussions are my comfort zone; small talk isn't.

Tomorrow we finish the review and get another tour of the supplier. This is my sixth or seventh visit up here. I've seen the place. If I'd known there was going to be a tour wasting my time, I'd have taken an earlier flight home. Eh, another few hours away from the office, some extra per diem, it's not all bad. More tomorrow.

Old People

On my flight out of Charlotte yesterday, there were about 8 couples, minimum age 70 - 75. It might have been only 4 couples, but they kept going up and down the aisle so often that it seemed like more. Loading on the plane, they couldn't figure out how suitcases were supposed to fit in the overhead bin, where they were supposed to sit, or that the lavatories are off limits during takeoff. During flight, they were up and down the aisles every 30 seconds, it seemed. They had to chat across aisles and rows. Deplaning, they couldn't find their bags, insisted on leaving out of the normal row order (back rows shoved forward to deplane first), and stopped halfway up the jet bridge. As you can guess, I was slightly annoyed.

On the bright side, I had an aisle seat on an exit row for both flights. Score.

Burying the lede, I'm now in Connecticut for Preliminary Design Review for my project. I've been doing all my travelling lately to support this review, so it's an important meeting. Tomorrow is most of the design parts. Today is overview for those new to the project and to verify the work that's been done (requirements and analysis).

I'm coming home Thursday morning. Very short lay over at Reagan National, but I've done the flight several times, so it should all work out. More tomorrow.

Dollhouse

I love this show. I just made it through the end of the initial season. Well, I'm watching the finale now. Even without the twist that I know Joss Whedon has in store, this is a great show.

Carmen Anthony

I'm in Avon, CT right now. MDA is paying our prime contractor to pay a company in Simsbury (about 5 miles up the road) to develop a safety system for us. I like to describe it as "strapping explosives on a giant explosive to keep it from exploding." I'm up here for some testing (of explosives). This is my fourth visit to Connecticut - January for System Requirements Review, March to develop a test plan, April for testing, and now. Except for the SRR, it's been just me, so I've explored a little: looked for places to eat, driven through some neighborhoods, scared yankees by exaggerating my Southern twang. Tonight, I ate at a place at the recommendation of my boss, who did not make the trip, but suggested the location when I called this afternoon with my EXSUM (long story, maybe later).

The place, as you might have guessed, is called Carmen Anthony. It advertises itself as a Steakhouse and Fishhouse. It is kind of cuisine (instead of just plain food), but it was delicious. I debated what to get. They had a three course special with choices of Cheeseburger Soup or something, 6oz filet (steak) or grilled Mahi (fish), and three choices for dessert, two of which slip my mind. I got the Cheeseburger Soup, Mahi, and Bananas Foster Creme Brule (which is why I can remember that appetizer and dessert). The soup, when delivered, smelled just like a greasey cheeseburger. It was excellent, and not greasey at all. It had tiny pieces of ground beef in a mostly cheesey soup. Mahi is a firm white fish, and it was well prepared. It came with a mango salsa, Basmati rice, and two sauces. The mango salsa was good, not great, not its own and the sauces didn't seem to go with the fish. One of them was almost a Granny Smith apple flavor that didn't suit the fish (it was good with the bread and the rice, though). I liked the fish by itself, but the mango salsa was a nice balance. For dessert, there was a chocolate no-flour something that sounded good, but I wanted to try the creme brule. I like Bananas Foster, but, honestly, I'd rather have banana pudding. By the time I got dessert, I'd forgotten the flavor of the creme brule, and it took me a few bites to place what it was. I enjoyed dessert, and the entire meal was top notch. I overtipped, and the entire meal was still $40 (which isn't bad for three courses at a restaurant that's trying to be gourmet).

In case you're wondering why I'm so forgetful, it's because I woke up at 4:30 this morning to catch my flight. Stupid terrorists, making me get to the airport an hour before my flight. But now, I'm going to sleep.

Happy birthday, Sheena.

More eventually.