Spring Break - Family Vacation Part 1

Friday afternoon, my wonderful wife picked up the boys from school, picked me up from work, and we headed south to spend Spring Break in Orlando.

Having four of us in the car, the HOV-3 lanes on I-395 were nice while they lasted, but we got stuck in some pretty gnarly traffic once the HOV lanes ended. We stopped in Lumberton, NC for the night and then finished the drive to Orlando on Saturday.

On our way, we stopped to visit the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial in South Carolina. Yes, yes, there was a geocache there. This was my first geocache in South Carolina and my 500th geocache find overall.

Self portrait in front of the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial

The boys helped me find the geocache by figuring out the answer to the question on the old Army Air Corps beacon.

I'm always looking for unique local places to eat instead of national chain restaurants. Thanks to Yelp, we found Ronnie's in Savannah, Georgia. It's a small burger, fries, onion rings, and milk shakes kind of place. The lady at the counter asked in a slow Southern drawl if we wanted our burgers "all the way." We said we didn't know what that meant. She said, "Y'all aren't from the south are ya? Are y'all headin' to Disney World?" Wow... how'd you guess?

HUMONGO Onion Rings
(Aside: Why does he have a cow when there are diced onions in any other item of food placed in front of him, but he'll gobble up onion rings like there's no tomorrow???)

My wife said, "this was better than that place you dragged us to in Kansas." I can't say that I agree with that. The food was probably of the same taste and quality, but I think the ambiance was a little more unique at the Crazy R in Kansas, and the menu at the Crazy R certainly had more of a local flavor to it. :-)

Each time we have come here in the past, we have spent most of the week just enjoying the pool at the Marriott Harbour Lake resort, and we devote one day to making our token visit to Disney. We figure as the boys get older, we will eventually branch out and hit other spots like Universal Studios.

Sunday and Monday we spent here at the resort hanging out by the pool.

The pirate ship in the pool.

A fleeting glimpse of YB as he races off to
man the water cannons on the pirate ship.

A sighting of the elusive YB-fish.

Come a little bit closer Daddy.

Cue Admiral Akbar sound bite: IT'S A TRAP!

Tuesday we made our pilgrimage to Disney World.

This is the first time we've attempted
to go during Spring Break. :-$

The monorail was shut-down, so everyone
had to wait in long lines and take the ferry
across the lake to the Magic Kingdom.

Thanks to the wonders of digital photography, I find taking a quick snapshot of my watch with something in the background is a helpful log of our activities for the day. This photo is at the front entrance to the Magic Kingdom. Yeah, we left the resort about 9:15. It only took us about 10 minutes to drive to Disney. The other 80 minutes were spent riding the tram in from where we parked and then waiting for the ferry to cross the lake.

Here's a recap of our day's visit to the Magic Kingdom:

- 10:46 a.m. walked in the Main Entrance

Have fun stormin' the castle!
(This was our first sighting of the castle after entering the park.)

- Walked over to Tomorrow Land

- Picked up fast passes for 3:55 p.m. at Space Mountain

- Rode the Buzz Lightyear ride (40 minute wait)

On the Buzz Lightyear ride you actually get to control
your turret - spinning left or right, and you each get
a laser blaster to shoot at all the things marked with
Z (for Zurg) and rack up a score for everything you hit.

Self portrait with ES in the Buzz Lightyear ride

- Walked over to Fantasy Land

- Scoffed at the 120 minute wait for the Dumbo ride (YB's favorite from our last visit)

- Bought some hot dogs for lunch

- Couldn't find any place to sit down, so we ate our lunches standing by the Dumbo ride

- Walked to Frontier Land

- Time Stamp: 12:26 p.m. getting in line for Haunted Mansion

YB watches the paddle-wheel boat while
waiting in line at the Haunted Mansion.

- Rode the Haunted Mansion ride (35 minute wait). ES wanted to go again, YB was a little creeped out by it, but he later said he wanted to do it again.

- Picked up fast passes for 4:30 p.m. at Thunder Mountain

- Rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (45 minute wait). Boys said it was "boring."

- Walk through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. This was cool for us since we just recently watched the movie for family movie night, but it's probably pretty boring if you aren't familiar with the book or the movie.

- Ate some Dole Pineapple Whip! This was the first time we've had Dole Pineapple Whip since we left Hawaii.

- Walked back over to Tomorrow Land - observed Main Street Parade with Mickey & Minnie Mouse dancing on a float on the way.

- My nephews insisted Space Mountain is the best ride EVER, so I went with them on Space Mountain with them while everyone else went on the People Mover.

- I got off Space Mountain feeling like someone had just pulled me out of the clothes dryer - spinning lights, spinning stomach, happy nephews.

- Walked back over to Frontier Land to ride Thunder Mountain. This was the first time for both of my boys on an honest-to-goodness roller coaster, and I was a little worried they would wig out. I was pleasantly surprised. We came off the ride with YB saying, "AGAIN! AGAIN!" and ES saying, "The only way to survive was by screaming!" Actually, both boys wanted to go again, but there was a 60 minute wait and we said no way.

- About this time, my wife and I were exhausted and the boys were clearly "done", so we agreed it was time to head back.

We got on the train to go back to the main entrance at 5:40 p.m.

We stopped for a Blunoz Family self portrait at the main entrance.

Then we crammed into the monorail like it was
the rush hour on the Metro in DC.

Unfortunately, my Garmin battery
didn't last the entire day in Disney.

Using the Buckeye Outdoors website's route planning feature, I estimate we walked about 3.4 miles. When I got back and recharged the Garmin, I was able to see that we covered 11.85 miles in 7 hours before the battery died. However, I didn't turn it off while we were on the rides, so that wasn't 11.85 miles of walking. As I analyze the data, I expect to see some 2-3 minute spikes in velocity (pace) when we were on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain.

Using the Garmin Connect website, I found I can share this map of where we went. Yes, yes, I am a nerd / geek / dork / all of the above for sharing this with you, but isn't it COOL???



If you click on "satellite" it will show the track overlaid on top of the overhead imagery of the park. The green bubble with the play symbol at the bottom shows where I started the GPS at the main entrance. There's one odd outlyer of a data point in the lower right when we were on the Buzz Lightyear ride. You can also see two spurious bad data points when we rode Space Mountain. Other than that, it looks like a pretty accurate recording of our visit. At the red bubble with the stop symbol, you can see how the battery died in my watch as we were on the train riding around the perimeter of the park on our way back to the main entrance.

At 6:23 p.m., we were back in our car and headed for dinner.

YB was rather insistent.

Dispicable

Warning: If you're already in a bad mood or are on your way out on a hot date and don't want to go in a despondent bad mood, then don't read this post.

It's gonna piss you off.

I want to add this to the files of frivolous lawsuits, although I don't know the technical details of the lawsuit itself. Even so, this story is a totally demoralizing indication of what an embarrassment the American legal system has become.

The judge and the lawyers who brokered this deal should be disbarred and forced to attend the funeral of every American servicemember killed in action for the next 12 months. As for that organization that calls itself a church and holds anti-homosexual rallies outside of funeral services for American service members... words fail me. It's simply disgraceful.

To help out a grieving USMC father with legal costs incurred by these wackos that call themselves a church, click on the link above.

Sailor, Rest Your Oar

This post is a day late because I received the news just as I was departing for a family vacation and I've been on the road yesterday and all day today. It put a significant damper on my spirits and I've been composing this post in my mind for many hours driving across country.

Terry Garbuzinski was killed in a head-on collision on I-95 in Mystic, Connecticut on Thursday night.

Update 3/28/2010: Terry's obituary is posted in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro.

If you've served on a U.S. fast attack submarine or went through any of the submarine officer training pipelines from SOAC through SCC anytime in the last two decades, then you have benefited from the superb interactive tactical training provided by Terry.

I first met Terry in the spring of 1996 when he came down to provide pre-deployment training (PDT) to our wardroom on USS PROVIDENCE (SSN-719). My CO at the time was a very highly respected submarine tactical god of sorts and somewhat of a legend in the submarine force. I was just a nub ensign at the time, and I thought it was kind of weird to have this guy in a suit coming down to our boat to tell US how to do things on the pointy-end of the spear. However, to see the way our captain respected Terry and listened intently to everything Terry had to say gave Terry a lot of credibility.

Bubblehead's post has some great comments about Terry. Over on FastNav's post, one commenter wrote that Terry " treated everyone around him with great respect." He hit the nail on the head. One of the things that impressed me about Terry back in 1996 was the way he spoke to me as if my opinion mattered and he valued my opinion - even as an ensign.

It didn't take long that first morning in 1996 for me to develop a feeling of awe both for Terry's level of knowledge in the history of submarine operations and the way he employed that knowledge in an interactive manner to help us think through difficult situations. Instead of the typical canned training powerpoint presentation (like the old version of the collisions and groundings brief) which just recited in a monotone voice, "on such-and-such a date in such-and-such an ocean, USS UMPTYFISH collided with so-and-so. The root causes of why they collided were (a)... (b)... (c)..." zzzzzzzzzzz.

Terry's style of training was always tremendously valuable in the way he put you in the moment and made you go through the same decision-making process that the crew did in that difficult situation. He would pick someone in the wardroom, "Okay, LT Blunoz, you're the Officer of the Deck, the ship is at PD, on course 270, speed 3 knots, and you observe the following..." He would present you with the same raw data that those guys had and see if you would make the same decisions they did. He would walk you through the current submarine force tactical guidance and what you're supposed to do by the book.

After you told Terry what you would have done in that situation, regardless whether or not you made a good decision, then he would make sure everyone was engaged and exercising their brain cells by asking around the table what the other guys thought. Then you could count on Terry saying something along the lines of, "Okay good, so turning right would have been the best maneuver here. However, let's say you thought (whatever was in the mind of that OOD back on that day), so you turned left instead. As a result, now you observe the following..." and he'd present you with the next round of information that became available to the watch team. It was a great way to see how to recover after you've made an initially bad decision and regain control of the situation.

Terry's training in fast attack submarine wardrooms and at submarine school was invaluable and a highlight of any wardroom's PDT or sub school curriculum, and I suspect that's how most guys wearing gold dolphins will remember him with thanks and admiration. However, the awesome training he provided was only the tip of the iceberg. It would be impossible to quantify Terry's contributions to our submarine force and to our national security.

Shortly after hearing the news, I had a meeting with a fellow submarine officer, and we talked about our mutual respect and feelings of loss for Terry. He was much more eloquent than me in the way he described Terry as "the guardian of the realm" -both inside and outside the lifelines of the submarine force. Outside the submarine force, he was a defender of the submarine force's reputation and an advocate for the capability and value of submarines. However, he was never content to let the submarine force rest on its laurels or get an inflated ego of over our capabilities. Inside the lifelines, he was a vigilant protector of our reputation in that he made sure we never abused or took advantage of the position of special trust and confidence the submarine force has earned over the past few decades. His in-depth analysis of submarine operations helped us to identify issues before they became problems, and he was a valued participant in any flag-level oversight discussion in that he spoke the truth and he wouldn't sugar coat it or water it down.


It's very sad to remember the last time you spoke with someone - not realizing it would be the last time you would speak. In my current job, I communicated with Terry on a regular basis via email and telephone. I counted on Terry for backing me up with the historic precedent of policy decisions and providing critical insight on how to handle new challenges. I saw Terry several times per year when we tag-team briefed the Submarine Command Course (SCC) or attended conferences together. When Terry was in DC last week for a conference hosted by my office, it never even crossed my mind that it would be the last time I would see or speak with him.

Terry - Thank you for your truly remarkable contribution to our submarine force and our national security. Thank you for the way you treated everyone with respect and valued their input. Thank you for always having a positive attitude and making everyone who met you genuinely glad that they did. Thank you for teaching me at every stage of my career, especially in the past year and a half. I am a better submarine officer because of you, Terry, and I was really looking forward to hearing you brief my SCC class next year.

This is a terrible tragedy and substantial loss for the submarine force.

My thoughts and prayers are with Terry's family, friends, and coworkers.

Sailor, rest your oar.

The Transition

One day recently, for no apparent reason, my Microsoft Outlook wouldn't display my calendar. It just kept showing this weird table-format instead of the traditional calendar format.

I spent an agonizingly long time clicking around different buttons and pull-down menus on my computer screen trying to change the display back to my normal calendar. I searched every pull-down menu and option and could NOT figure out WHY it wouldn't display my calendar. A couple of times I considered asking for help from one of the lieutenants, but I kept telling myself, "Self, it CAN'T be this hard."

After about 15 minutes of fruitlessly clicking around on Outlook interspersed with banging my head on the desk miscellaneous phone calls, conversations with other people in the office, and other routine office work, I finally gave in and walked over to the playpen bullpen where all the lieutenants sit. I asked if any of them could help me figure out how to get my Outlook calendar to come up on the screen.

They all sorta looked at me with this disbelieving-smirk facial expression that said, "Is he serious?"

One of the lieutenants took pity on me, came over to my computer, and in about 3 seconds and just as many mouse clicks had my calendar up on the screen. Without saying a word, he quietly went back to his desk.

I felt pretty stupid.

Even so, I was glad the LT was able to fix it quickly, and I was especially glad he didn't say out loud what I'm sure he was thinking in his head.

Another one of the lieutenants wasn't willing to let me off the hook that easy. He came over and congratulated me on making "the transition" to becoming a "senior officer." He explained that as you go up in rank, you lose technical competence and have to ask the LTs to figure out the simple things like Microsoft Outlook.

Niiice.

Welcome Spring!

What a gorgeous day we had in NoVA today!

Although the trees are still mostly bare, we have signs here and there - a preview of coming attractions:




We got the bicycles down out of the garage ceiling hoists for the first time this year.


This was the first time for 6 year old YB riding on tagalong with me while 8 year old ES rode on his own bike.


We had a great time. After two long laps around our neighborhood, ES was tired and went in the house, but YB wanted to keep going (go figure - he wasn't really pedaling). I captured some AWESOME video of YB singing a joyful song with lyrics something along the lines of:

I'm having fun,
I'm having fun,
This is the best weekend ever,
This is the best weekend ever,
I'm having fun
Without [ES] disturbing me,
I want to do this again tomorrow,
I want to do this again tomorrow,
This is the best weekend ever.

Or something like that. (The video is posted to Facebook for my family and friends' amusement.)

Stupid Kevin Tricks, Vol 37, Ed 5,842

I managed to draw the first blood of the season. I hadn't even gotten on my bike to start our ride. As I was swinging my leg over the bike, my foot got caught in between the seat and the frame, and the momentum of me swinging my leg over caused all of my body weight to go toppling over onto the other side of the bike without being able to put my foot down to stop me (because it was stuck in the bike frame).

Woops.

Smoooooooth. Yep, that was pretty embarrassing. My wonderful wife was standing right there when it happened, and she very kindly stifled her laughter and got the first aid kit.

A tootsie roll pop sure made it feel better though. :-)

Breathalyzers

Interesting article here. Overall, I think it's a step in the right direction to put breathalyzers on the ignition switches for convicted DUI offenders.

Two thoughts on this article and the legislation being considered.

1. The Post tried to follow the journalistic principle of presenting both sides of the argument, so they went out and found somebody who was against the proposal. The dude they chose to interview for the "con" side of this is clearly an idiot. He should be forced to attend every funeral of someone killed by a drunk driver in Maryland and Virginia for the next year at a minimum. His counter argument is basically, "But if they have a breathalyzer on their ignition switch in their car, then they're probably not going to have a second drink with dinner and it'll hurt the alcoholic beverage industry."

Dude.

That's. The. Whole. Friggin. Point.

I don't WANT them having a second drink if they're going to be driving, and neither should you.

2. That being said, I think the proposed legislation misses the mark. As I wrote above, it's a step in the right direction, but after further contemplation, I think it's actually ineffective. The problem is this: Having a breathalyzer on the ignition switch of the convicted offender's car doesn't stop him* from getting in somebody ELSE's car and driving off and killing somebody.

To make such a policy effective, they would really need to install breathalyzers on ALL car ignition switches.

I'm all for it.

As any of my previous crewmembers will tell you, I always talked to the crew at quarters on the pier about making your plan for how you'll get home BEFORE you start drinking, and make sure that plan involves you not having ANY access to operate a motor vehicle.

The reason is simple.

Alcohol impairs your judgment.

After you've started consuming alcohol, then you are no longer in a position to judge if you're okay to drive. During my department head tour, we had a string of several DUIs in a row where guys claimed, "but I just had one beer with dinner. I felt fine!"

Don't assume you'll just find a ride with somebody. When it comes around to closing time and you want to go home, you'll look around the bar, see nobody to give you a ride, and say to yourself, "Self, I feel fine. I didn't have that much to drink. It'll be okay."

That's why I always told my crew at quarters to make sure their plan involved them not even having the option of getting behind the wheel of a car. Give the keys to someone else before you start drinking.

Sorry, that was an unintended tangent. Getting back to the point. IF we were to put breathalyzers on ALL car ignition switches, then I am certain it would dramatically reduce the rate of DUIs, because all those people who think they didn't have that much to drink won't be able to start their car.

I wonder how hard companies like Anheuser-Busch would fight such legislation to protect their revenues?

* Disclaimer: I'm not trying to be sexist here. From reading the Navy UNIT SITREPs on the Navy Ops Center website in the mornings, I'd guestimate that about 99% of DUIs (at least for Navy personnel) are men.

Pentagon Gouge: Taxes

It's that time of year again, so I'll redirect you to my post last year praising the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. This message from the Director of the Navy Staff talks about the benefits of the program and offers some statistics of what was done during last year's tax season.

R 151615Z DEC 09
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//DNS//
TO NAVADMIN
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//DNS//
BT
UNCLAS
NAVADMIN 362/09
MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/DNS/DEC//
SUBJ/2010 VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE (VITA)
/ELECTRONIC TAX FILING (ELF) POLICY AND PROGRAM GUIDANCE//
REF/A/MSG/CNO/241821Z NOV 08//
AMPN/REF A IS NAVADMIN 334/08//
RMKS/1. THIS NAVADMIN PROVIDES VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE (VITA)/ELECTRONIC TAX FILING (ELF) POLICY AND PROGRAM GUIDANCE. THIS MSG SUPERSEDES REF A.
2. DURING 2009, VOLUNTEERS WITH THE VITA/ELF PROGRAM FILED MORE THAN 63,000 FEDERAL AND STATE TAX RETURNS, SAVING SERVICE MEMBERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS MORE THAN $7 MILLION IN COMMERCIAL TAX PREPARATION FEES, AND PROVIDING OVER $94
MILLION IN FEDERAL INCOME TAX REFUNDS. BASED ON THE SUCCESS OF VITA/ELF IN PAST YEARS, WE WILL ONCE AGAIN IMPLEMENT THE PROGRAM FOR 2010.
3. THE VITA/ELF PROGRAM IMPROVES BOTH MORALE AND READINESS BY SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING THE EFFORT AND COST INVOLVED IN MEETING FEDERAL AND STATE TAX OBLIGATIONS.
A. VITA KEEPS MONEY IN SAILOR'S POCKETS. COMMERCIAL TAX PREPARERS MAY CHARGE OVER $150 FOR THE AVERAGE ELECTRONICALLY FILED RETURN. VITA/ELF VOLUNTEERS PREPARE AND FILE TAX RETURNS AT NO COST TO SAILORS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
B. FASTER REFUNDS. PAPER RETURNS MAY TAKE EIGHT OR MORE WEEKS TO PROCESS IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, AND EVEN LONGER IF SUBMITTED OVERSEAS OR WHILE DEPLOYED. BY USING VITA/ELF, REFUNDS ARE DEPOSITED DIRECTLY INTO A SAILOR'S BANK ACCOUNT AN AVERAGE OF TWO WEEKS FROM THE DATE OF TRANSMISSION, EVEN FROM
OVERSEAS AND AFLOAT COMMANDS. THESE RAPID REFUNDS GREATLY REDUCE THE NEED FOR ANY TYPE OF REFUND ANTICIPATION LOANS, WHICH STILL HAVE HIGH INTEREST RATES AND CHARGES EVEN WHEN IN COMPLIANCE WITH DOD PREDATORY LENDING LIMITATIONS.
C. FEWER MISTAKES. VITA/ELF RETURNS ARE VERY ACCURATE, AVERAGING LESS THAN A ONE PERCENT ERROR RATE COMPARED TO 15 PERCENT FOR PAPER RETURNS.
4. PAST TAX SEASONS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT SUCCESS OF THE VITA/ELF PROGRAM IS PREDICATED ON SUPPORT FROM LOCAL COMMANDS. WHILE THE LOCAL NAVAL LEGAL SERVICE
OFFICE (NLSO), STAFF JUDGE ADVOCATE, OR COMMAND TAX REPRESENTATIVE WILL MANAGE TAX ASSISTANCE CENTERS, THESE CENTERS DEPEND ON LOCAL COMMAND ASSISTANCE TO
PROVIDE THE PERSONNEL, EQUIPMENT, AND FACILITIES FOR A SUCCESSFUL VITA/ELF TAX CENTER.
5. SUFFICIENT MANPOWER IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS. THE SUPPORT OF EVERY COMMAND IS NECESSARY, FROM SENDING SAILORS ON TEMPORARY ADDITIONAL DUTY (TAD) ORDERS FOR THE DURATION OF THE TAX SEASON, TO ALLOWING PERSONNEL TO WORK PART-TIME AT TAX
ASSISTANCE CENTERS DURING NORMAL DUTY HOURS. PART-TIME SUPPORT IS ESPECIALLY CRITICAL DURING FEBRUARY, THE PEAK FILING TIME. THE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE ONE VOLUNTEER OR TAD TAX PREPARER PER 100 MEMBERS OF EACH COMMAND. ONE FULL-TIME TAD TAX PREPARER (TRAINED BY THE IRS AND/OR VITA/ELF TAX OFFICERS) CAN PROVIDE OVER $50,000 WORTH OF SERVICES. INFORMATION ON REQUIRED TAX PREPARER TRAINING OR ABOUT VOLUNTEERING CAN BE OBTAINED BY CONTACTING THE LOCAL NAVY LEGAL SERVICES OFFICE OR LCDR LEE AT THE OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL.
6. THE VITA/ELF PROGRAM REMAINS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. WITH YOUR SUPPORT, WE CAN CONTINUE THIS VALUABLE QUALITY OF LIFE BENEFIT FOR OUR SAILORS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
7. RELEASED BY VICE ADMIRAL SAM J. LOCKLEAR III, DIRECTOR, NAVY STAFF.//
BT
#0000
NNNN

If you aren't sure where VITA is offered near your homeport / duty station, call your local Navy Legal Service Office (NLSO). In each place I've been stationed, if the NLSO wasn't actually where VITA was offered, then they could at least point me in the right direction.

As I read the message above, I realize I should have posted this sooner in the tax season and encourage you consider volunteering for VITA. I don't know if it's too late to get in on it now, but it's a great way to support your local Navy community and get some training and experience working with tax software.

Kryptonite Revisited

Many thanks to NotionsCapital for pointing out some new pseudonyms of my arch-nemesis.

Ever since Jud forwarded me a this NY Times article that identified several alternative names used to hide MSG in food labels, I have avoided those items and dramatically reduced the frequency of my headaches.

Sadly, it's getting to the point where about all I can eat that I KNOW FOR SURE is "safe" is plain white rice. It annoys me to no end that "All Natural" does NOT equate to "safe for Kevin" because "natural flavor" and "natural smoke flavor" are MSG pseudonyms. However, I DO find that items with "organic" on the label tend to be safe, although the MSG pain in my head shifts to an Organic pain in my wallet.

In spite of carefully checking the ingredients of everything I eat, I still get a headache every once in a while and have NO CLUE what caused it, so I knew there was something else (ingredient-wise) out there that I haven't nailed down through pattern-analysis yet. Now armed with the names provided through NotionsCapital, I'll be on the lookout for these other forms of "Stealth MSG."

Oh, check out this video (found from the second link on NotionsCapital):

Nice Try

There I was, catching up on the posts of my friends on Facebook.

Then the chat window popped up.

A friend of mine from church said hi. I thought it was odd since I don't normally chat with him on the computer. I figured something must be going on for him to initiate chat with me out of the blue. So I responded hi and asked him if everything was okay.

He wrote that he was having a really bad day, and proceeded to tell me he was stranded in London. He was mugged at gunpoint and had all his money and credit cards stolen.

At this point, my very wise wife sitting next to me said, "It's a scam."

So I picked up the phone and dialed my friend's home number here in Virginia.

He answered.

I said, "So you're NOT stranded in London and you have NOT been mugged at gunpoint and lost all your money and credit cards?"

He said no.

I said, "Okay, good. In that case, someone has hacked your Facebook account and is now using it to try and get me to give them money."

I didn't divulge to the thief that the gig was up and continued chatting in an attempt to get him to divulge some information about where he was. I didn't get very far before my friend logged on and reported it to Facebook and changed his password.

Anyway, I thought I should share the story in case anyone else out there gets a chat message from a "friend" claiming they need money. Don't fall for it.

2010 DC Sub Ball Invitation

'Just my annual courtesy reminder. NOW might be a good time to check your dinner dress blues and mini-medals.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Pentagon Gouge: Spring Uniform Shift

For those of you in the DC area, it's time to get your whites ready again. Naval District Washington will shift over to summer uniforms on 5 April.

041600Z FEB 10
FM COMNAVDIST WASHINGTON DC//N00M//
ALNDW/002/10
MSGID/GENADMIN/COMNAVDIST WASH DC/N00M//
SUBJ/SUMMER UNIFORM SHIFT FOR NAVY REGION NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON//
REF/A/DOC/CHNAVPERS/01JUL2006//
AMPN/REF A IS U.S. NAVY UNIFORM REGULATIONS, NAVPERS15665I OF JUL 06/BUPERS DIRECTIVE CD ROM.
RMKS/1. COMMANDANT, NAVY REGION, NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON (NDW) IS THE AREA UNIFORM COORDINATOR FOR NAVAL SHORE ACTIVITIES AND NAVY PERSONNEL ASHORE IN THE REGION. NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON ENCOMPASSES THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, MARYLAND, AND VIRGINIA COUNTIES. VIRGINIA COUNTIES: ARLINGTON, CAROLINE, FAIRFAX, FAUQUIER, KING GEORGE, LOUDOUN, PRINCE WILLIAM, SPOTSYLVANIA, STAFFORD, AND WESTMORELAND. MARYLAND COUNTIES: ANNE ARUNDEL, BALTIMORE, CALVERT, CARROLL, CHARLES, FREDERICK, HOWARD, MONTGOMERY, PRINCES GEORGES, ST MARY'S , THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, AND BLOODSWORTH ISLAND.
2. AS AREA COORDINATOR, NDW IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ISSUING AND CONTROLLING UNIFORM POLICY AND APPEARANCE OF NAVY PERSONNEL WITHIN NDW AND FOR PRESCRIBING UNIFORMS FOR THE SEASON, DAY OR SPECIAL OCCASION, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE GREATEST UNIFORMITY OF APPEARANCE.
3. NDW WILL SHIFT TO SUMMER UNIFORM EFFECTIVE 0001, 05 APR 10. THERE WILL BE NO TRANSITIONAL PERIOD.
4. UNIFORM OF THE DAY WILL BE:
A. OFFICER/CPO:
PRESCRIBED
SUMMER WHITE
ALTERNATE
SERVICE KHAKI
B. E1 to E6:
PRESCRIBED
SERVICE DRESS WHITE
ALTERNATE
SERVICE UNIFORM
5. UNIFORM FOR SPECIAL EVENTS/CEREMONIES FOR ALL PAYGRADES WILL BE:
A. DAYTIME: PRESCRIBED UNIFORM OF THE DAY OR AS DIRECTED BY HOST COMMAND.
B. EVENING/CIVILIAN FUNCTIONS: OFFICERS/CPOS: SUMMER WHITE, E1 to E6: SERVICE DRESS WHITE IS THE PRESCRIBED UNIFORM FOR EVENING/CIVILIAN FUNCTIONS WHERE THE DRESS CODE IS CIVILIAN INFORMAL.
C. FUNERALS AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY:
(1) PARTICIPANTS: FULL DRESS WHITE.
(2) ATTENDEES: UNLESS OTHERWISE PRESCRIBED, OFFICER/CPOS: SUMMER WHITE, E1 to E6: SERVICE DRESS WHITE.
D. CAPITOL HILL:
(1) OFFICIAL BUSINESS: OFFICERS/CPOS: SUMMER WHITE, E1 to E6: SERVICE DRESS WHITE.
(2) CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS: SERVICE DRESS BLUE (FOR PERSONNEL TESTIFYING OR ATTENDING).
6. REQUESTS FOR EXCEPTION TO WEARING THE PRESCRIBED UNIFORM FOR SPECIFIC EVENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING TO THE COMMANDANT, NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON FOR APPROVAL.
7. COMMANDERS, COMMANDING OFFICERS AND OFFICERS IN CHARGE WILL ENSURE COMPLIANCE OF REF A BY PERSONNEL UNDER THEIR COGNIZANCE. EVERY MEMBER OF THE NAVAL SERVICE IS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.S. NAVY. INDIVIDUAL CONDUCT AND DRESS, BOTH IN UNIFORM AND CIVILIAN ATTIRE, WILL REFLECT CREDIT UPON THE MEMBER AND THE NAVAL SERVICE. CONTINUOUS COMMAND ATTENTION WILL ENSURE THAT UNIFORMS ARE PROPERLY WORN AND MAINTAINED SO AS TO BRING CREDIT TO THE COMMAND AND THE NAVAL SERVICE. PRIDE IN APPEARANCE IS THE MARK OF RESPONSIBLE AND PROFESSIONAL MILITARY MEMBERS.
8. MESSAGE RELEASED BY PATRICK LORGE, COMMANDANT, RDML, USN//

Yelp for BlackBerry

I'm a big fan of Yelp! for finding new restaurants and other businesses. You can find user reviews on just about any business anywhere - both in quick and easy 1 to 5 star reference and in actual written remarks and pictures uploaded by previous customers.

Today, I was over in Silver Spring, MD for a seminar and wanted to find a place for lunch. I used my BlackBerry to go to the Yelp! website to search for what was in the area. The first thing I noticed was a link at the top of the page to download the Yelp! app for BlackBerry.

I downloaded it, and it's AWESOME!

Photo from Yelp website

The Yelp! app for BlackBerry by default searches for businesses near your current location (but you can also tell it to search somewhere else). It started out with nice big easy-to-push buttons to choose restaurants, bars, coffee & tea, drugstores, gas & services, grocery stores, banks or other. I pushed the button for restaurants, then I clicked the button for nearby my current location.

It nearly instantaneously returned a list of restaurants near me with star icons showing the average user review and how many reviews it was based on - a 4 star rating from 300 people is way better than a single 5-star review. It also provides dollar sign icons for the price range and a category for the type of food (American, Mexican, Chinese, etc).

The first few entries were $$$ out of our desired lunch price range. I pushed my menu button then clicked on "filter." I clicked on the $ icon and clicked search, and it filtered the search to look for the closest restaurants that were in that price range. You can also click on "map results" and it will show you where the businesses are in relation to where you are.

My only complaint about the app is that it never comes back with the same list of restaurants twice. I don't know how the algorhythm works, but if you pass a restaurant somewhere in the list and keep browsing and then try to go back to it, it's not going to be at the same spot in the initial list that the Yelp! app generated. It's probably still going to be in your list somewhere, but you'll have to scroll the list of results to find it again.

That's a minor thing though, and overall, this app is AWESOME. Wish I knew about it sooner - it was released way back in August!

NMCI Rant

Okay, this probably comes as no surprise to any of you who use the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), but I feel the need to vent.

First, for those of you who aren't familiar with NMCI, the Navy hired Electronic Data Services (EDS) several years ago to provide and manage ALL of the Navy and Marine Corps' unclassified and SIPRNET (secret internet protocol routing network) computers and networking. It's quite a racket if you ask me. EDS gets ungodly amounts of money from the Navy.

Case in point: If I walk into my local Verizon store and buy a Blackberry, I'd wager money I'll walk out the door in 30 minutes with a fully functional Blackberry - email set up, phone numbers and address book transferred over, full-blown access to the internet. AAAAAAND, I bet you it would cost me significantly LESS than $200.

In order to get an NMCI Blackberry, it takes MONTHS of wading through a dump-truck full of bureaucratic red tape and waiting. Then, when you finally get the Blackberry, it's just like those ridiculous appointments with the cable company where they tell you they'll be there "between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m." and you have to wait with baited breath for them to show up, and while they're in your office for an hour and a half installing the Blackberry software and syncing it up with your computer, you aren't allowed to go anywhere or do anything besides stand guard over the visitor in your office who has unfettered access to your computer.

Then, after standing there waiting for an hour and a half, the technician tells you that he has to go back to the shop to redo your Blackberry setup because they erroneously set it up for Kevin.Lastname. Unfortunately, because there is more than one Kevin Lastname in the Navy, I'm actually Kevin.MIDDLE INITIAL.Lastname in the NMCI global address book, so they set the Blackberry up for the wrong user.

When you finally DO get your NMCI Blackberry, it's severely limited in functionality. It's nice that I can check my work email and calendar, but that's about all it's good for because just about every other feature is locked-down (no bluetooth, most websites blocked, etc).

Oh, and in return for all of this great functionality, EDS gives the Navy a bill for over TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS (for ONE Blackberry).

Jeez, I didn't even sit down to rant about NMCI Blackberries. I just got on a roll when I was trying to give some background information for non-Navy folks to understand what NMCI is.

No, I actually sat down with the intent to write two other relatively quick rants.

Rant #1. NMCI fairly recently installed some new features that cause these text-boxes to pop-up and chastise you if you leave your CAC card unattended. While the programmers who wrote these new updates surely meant well, the practicality of their application fell short of the mark.

For example. If I tell my computer to LOG OFF, then it pops up an annoying little window telling me that my CAC card is still in my computer keyboard and asks me what I would like to do.

The first time this happened, I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh FINE!" and pulled my CAC card out of the keyboard. Then the computer promptly locked itself because I had removed my CAC card. Yes, you read that right, the computer did NOT log off as directed because I had just removed my CAC card.

What it boils down to is this. When I want to log off my computer, I have to leave my CAC card in the keyboard. I have to tell the computer to log off. Then I have to wait for the annoying little pop-up window to appear. Then I have to click on "I want to continue what I was doing" in the annoying little pop-up window. Then the computer will continue with the log-off sequence and I can remove my CAC card and go home.

Rant #2. They tell us to log off our computers at the end of the day and leave the computers on so the administrators can remotely provide software updates and whatnot on the back shift. If that's the case, then WHY on EARTH does my computer perpetually tell me as soon as I log on in the morning that it has an update to apply and needs to reboot??? I thought that was the whole point of leaving the computer logged-off and powered-on all night!

Okay, I'm done ranting now. I'll get off my soap box.

Read the Fine Print

Happy 100th Anniversary to Scouting!

This time every year, cub scout packs across the country have some sort of a Blue & Gold banquet to celebrate the anniversary of scouting.

Back in Hawaii, we also had a father-son cake decorating contest that was a lot of fun.

The way they do things in our pack here in Virginia, they want the scouts to finish the requirements for their new rank badge (Tiger, Fox, Bear) by the Blue & Gold banquet so they can all be presented their new badge at the banquet.

Last year, we had just moved here from Hawaii and joined the pack after they had already started knocking out the requirements to get done by the Blue & Gold Banquet. As a result, ES wasn't done with the requirements for the Wolf Badge when we went to the banquet. We kept plugging away and finished the requirements later, and I didn't sew the Wolf Badge onto his uniform until he finished.

The past month or so I have felt like we were under the gun, working toward a deadline. There are just SO MANY requirements in the Bear book! For you navy folks, it's sort of like a qual card. There are 24 "achievements" (block sigs) with titles such as "What Makes America Special," "Take Care of Your Planet," "Family Outdoor Adventures," "Building Muscles," and "Sawdust and Nails." Each achievement has anywhere from 3 to 10 individual activities the scout needs to complete to get signed off (each has a signature line just like a qual card). The activities aren't generally quick tasks. The activities are things like:

• Visit a museum, zoo, or aviary
• Attend a professional sporting event with your family or cub scout den
• Collect 1 month of daily newspapers and turn them in for recycling
• Keep track of your personal spending for 2 weeks
  
• Build a model
• Build your own tool box
• With an adult, make a dessert for your family (I'm glad they put that "with an adult" caveate on that one! Can you imagine the mess in the kitchen???)

Thankfully, you don't have to do ALL the activities for each achievement. Most say you have to do like the first and the last activity and then choose 4 of the others to do. Even so, there are a LOT of requirements in there, and I just didn't see how we were going to get them all done before the Blue and Gold Banquet.

Enter the Den Leader, Dave, my hero.

We use this cool web-based program called Scout Track to keep track of the scouts' progress toward completing achievements and awards and whatnot. A couple of weeks ago, Den Leader Dave was all smiles and very enthusiastic as he told me, "So it looks to me like ES is almost done with his Bear requirements!"

Uhhh.... Huh?

At the time he told me this, we had like 9 of the 24 achievements done. Clearly he had ES confused with one of the other scouts, because we were NO. WHERE. CLOSE. TO. FINISHING. There was certainly no way on Earth we would get all 24 achievements done by the Blue & Gold Banquet. I thought we were going to end up like last year - continuing to plug away at the requirements and I would sew the badge on months later when ES finished them all.

Then Dave clued me in to the fact that you don't have to do ALL of the achievements.

On page 12 of the Bear book, it says, "You must complete

TWELVE

achievements to be a Bear Scout."

I suddenly felt like a tremendous burden had been lifted from my shoulders. There really was a light at the end of the tunnel. We really could complete the Bear requirements before the Blue & Gold Banquet. HALLELUJAH!!!

Since I had been putting forth an effort to get ES to complete ALL of the achievements, he had two or more signatures in almost every achievement. It was actually fairly easy to pick the 3 achievements he was closest to completing and focus on finishing them off.

But wait! It gets better!

After the Bear badge requirements, the book goes into electives for the scouts to earn arrow points. Another thing I discovered in the fine print of the book, on page 180, is that if your scout does additional activities from the Bear achievements above and beyond what was required for him to earn the Bear badge, then those additional activities count as electives for arrow points.

So because I was a dumbass we were ambitiously trying to knock out all 24 achievements, ES already has enough signatures in his book to get his first arrow point and is only 3 signatures away from earning his second arrow point. Score!

In any case, THIS year's Blue & Gold Banquet was MUCH more enjoyable for us.

They handed out the pinewood derby trophies.

ES received (and can WEAR) his new Bear Badge.

Note to Self: Next year, READ THE BOOK and check with the den leader to make sure you understand the requirements. (At least I'll know better when YB becomes a Cub Scout, right?)