Overheard in the Shower

I've been going to the Pentagon Athletic Center (PAC) gym almost every weekday for the past year and a half.  It would be interesting if I had the data to plot a histogram of topics I've overheard in the men's locker room showers.  If I were playing Family Feud and had to guess what the top topics were, then my guesses would be:

1.  How far did you run today?
2.  Where did you run today?
3.  How hot or cold was it outside today?
4.  What muscle group did you work on today?
5.  Military career milestones - are you screened for command / when are you going to command?
6.  Orders - as in, when are you going to Permanent Change of Station (PCS)?  Where are you PCSing to?

I suspect that would cover about 80 to 90% of the conversations I hear in the gym and in the locker room.  Once in a while, you'll hear two friends talking about their kids or families. 

This week I heard an outlier for the histogram...

Two guys in the shower were talking about the musical Annie.

Then one of them spontaneously burst out singing one of the songs from Annie.

In the shower.

In the men's locker room.

In the Pentagon.

Surrounded by a bunch of other naked men.

Odd. 

Felt like I had stepped into another dimension.  Is the TARDIS around the corner?

What's the craziest thing you've overheard in the locker room?

Blog Celebrity and Defunct Blog Rolls

It doesn't happen often, but I am occasionally surprised to meet a stranger who says, "Hey, I read your blog!"  I recently had a fellow Navy officer come to my office for a meeting, and he recognized one of the framed pictures over my desk that was also posted on my blog.  He told me when he received orders to PCS to the Pentagon, one of the Navy officers in his new office sent him an email with a link to my "Pentagon Gouge."  Wow!  I'm honored to be included in the unofficial Pentagon welcome aboard packet, and glad to know some have found the information I've shared here to be useful. 

That gave me a nudge that I should get back in the habit of sharing things on my blog that may be of use to folks working in the Pentagon or the National Capital Region in general.

To that end, please tell me (comment or email), how do you keep up on your blog reading?  For me, I used to have a long list of blogs I read on Google Reader.  I was out at sea when Google Reader went away, and I just never recovered or reconstituted any means of keeping up to date on all the blogs I used to read.  How do you do it?  I know I keep up to date on a lot of things via Facebook.  Maybe I should change this into a Facebook page.  What do you think?

Pentagon Gouge: Cell Phones

Happy Snowmaggedon Day everyone!

The Washington Post proposed several names for this storm. They used "snowpocalypse" for the storm that happened just before Christmas. My favorites that they suggested for this storm were "snowmaggedon" and "SnOMG!"

As you can see in the pictures above, we got 33" here in Ashburn. It came down faster than the snow plows could keep up, and word in the news is that it'll take a couple of days to dig us all out. The local schools being closed aren't that much of a surprise - they close at the mere mention of snow. The real indication of what a bad storm this was is the fact that above-ground Metro service is shut-down, and there is no bus or VRE train service today either. On one of our two worst snow days last year, Loudoun County canceled commuter bus service for the day, but the rest of the DC area was still in business. This is the first time I've seen all of the DC area above-ground public transit canceled.

I hope everyone got the news that the federal government in the DC area is CLOSED today. In case you didn't know, you can go to the OPM website to check the operating status of the government (normally).


Note that you can also sign up on the OPM website to receive email updates. Sunday (yesterday afternoon), I received an email from OPM announcing the closure of the Federal government on Monday along with a notification that the OPM website was down, so I might not have known if it wasn't for the email. However, the Washington Post did announce it, too.

I had actually written the blog post below in advance for posting as this morning's Pentagon gouge, but it actually seems fairly appropriate considering only underground Metro service is in operation today. Here's what I originally intended to post today.

Are you new to the area or otherwise in need of a new cell phone?

If you spend any amount of time on the Metro, then I recommend Verizon. No, Verizon didn't pay me anything for this endorsement. Why Verizon? They have the best coverage in the area, particularly in the Metro. I was amazed to go down into the underground Metro stations and find that I still have service, or that I have some service actually on the Metro trains between stations.

Thanks to my friends over at Two DC, now I understand why.

That being said, I have noted significant spots with no coverage inside the Pentagon, but I attribute that to ginormous size of the Pentagon itself. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who works in the Pentagon if they have evidence of one cell phone company having better coverage than another.

Thankful Thursday

This morning I'd like to offer up two shout-outs.

1. Pentagon Post Office

I recently visited the post office in the Pentagon for the first time. It's inside the Metro entrance off to the right hand side (in the E ring / back to back with the Hall of Heroes). When I first walked in the door, my heart sank a little because of the number of people in line and the fact that there was only one lady working the counter.

Little did I know... If you look up the word "efficiency" in the dictionary, you will see a picture of Ms. F. C. Manning. Okay, so we've all met some customer service type people who are efficient but generally achieve that efficiency through some level of sacrifice to professionalism, courtesy, or manners. When it came my turn to step up to the counter, I was very pleasantly surprised. Ms. Manning was the epitome of professionalism, courtesy, and good manners in addition to processing your business efficiently and getting you out the door.

Thank you, Ms. Manning. You're awesome!

2. Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES)

I bought a pair of Oakley sunglasses at the Bolling AFB Post Exchange ("PX") back in June. Recently, one of the arms broke off. It's well within the 1-year warranty period. Unfortunately, I never filled out the warranty card and didn't save the receipt. Even though I can find the transaction on my credit card statement and I have the original box with the price sticker on it, Oakley customer service said that wasn't good enough and I needed a receipt from the store. If not, then I'd have to pay $50 for the repair.

I said to myself, "Self, why not try contacting the PX to see if they can get you a copy of the receipt?"

From the AAFES website, I sent an email with details of the date, time, last four digits of my credit card number, and transaction amount from my credit card statement. I didn't really have any expectation they would be able to help me out, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

Low and behold, I got a phone call from Ms. Kathy Williams at AAFES, and within a matter of moments, she emailed me a copy of the receipt. She was extremely kind, courteous, and helpful.

Thank you Ms. Williams!

Pentagon Gouge: Mass Transit Subsidy Distribution

For military folks in the DC area, this week is the National Capital Region (NCR) Mass Transit Subsidy distribution. Don't forget to pick yours up! For locations and times you can pick them up, visit this website (I think it has to be from a .mil domain computer). (Update: I'm able to access it from my home computer, no problems.)

Also, since this is the first distribution after the holidays, it is worthy to note the policy on having leftover benefits from the previous period. If, like me, you spent some time on vacation and didn't use all your metro checks for the last quarter, then the rules say you are supposed to report that when you collect your new quarter's benefits and reduce the amount of metro checks you collect for the new quarter. From the NCR Mass Transit Subsidy website explaining the eligibility and rules of the program:

I will adjust the amount received based upon long term TDY or leave.

This means that if you are away for an extended period, in which you are not commuting and incurring costs, that you will not claim benefits, or if you have already been issued benefits for that period, you will reduce your next claim by any remaining amount. Please note that the DoD does not pay to “hold” or “reserve” seats for vanpools while you are on extended absence.

Pentagon Gouge: Save the Date

For you bubbleheads in the DC area, the Submarine Birthday Ball is on April 10th, 2010, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott.

Not-just-Pentagon Gouge: Safe Ride Home

I know I normally do my Pentagon Gouge posts on Mondays, but this is something important to get out sooner rather than later, especially on a weekend during the holiday season. Heads-Up: There are some important phone numbers at the bottom of this post for a FREE safe ride home in the DC area.

As you all go off to your boat or office holiday parties, Army-Navy Game festivities and whatnot, please plan ahead how you will get home safely if you plan to have anything to drink.

Remember that alcohol affects your judgment, so it's not good enough to wait until after you've had a few drinks to "plan" your way home. That's when you find yourself saying, "Oh, I only had a couple, I'll be fiiiiiine." Tweeeeeeet! Flag on the play! Unnecessary Poor Judgment.

Make a plan in advance, before you leave the house or have anything to drink. I think the best plan involves a responsible friend who isn't drinking and agrees to make sure you get home safely afterwards.

As I frequently told my crews on my previous boats at quarters on the pier, I understand that plans go awry. Petty Officer Schmuck said he'd be your designated driver. Next thing you know, you look across the club and see Petty Officer Schmuck doing tequila shots with some girl at the bar. I always told my crew that I would rather they called ME for a safe ride home than have to watch you stand at the green table, or worse - have to identify your body in the morgue after you wrap your car around a tree.

Morbid? Yes.

Necessary to drive the point home? Yes.

The majority of Captain's Mast cases I've attended for DUIs have been guys who "just had one or two" and thought they were fine to drive home. Again - the alcohol impaired their judgment of how much they had to drink and whether or not they were safe to drive.

I'm sure any member of your crew, your chief, your divo, your department head, or even your XO or CO would rather come get you if you've been drinking rather than have to call your family and tell them you're dead or you're in jail, not to mention the fact your shipmate just got bagged with standing your next duty day and can't stay in port for that school he needed because he's gotta be on the underway watchbill now.

If you're in the DC area and find yourself in a spot where you've been drinking and you need a ride home, then please call the SoberRide program. Program these numbers into your cell NOW before you go out.

The Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) 2009 Holiday SoberRide program will be offered from 2200 to 0600 each night, beginning Friday, 11 December 2009 and ending at 0600, Friday, 1 January 2010. To receive a free cab ride home (up to a $50.00 fare), please call 800-200-8294 (TAXI) or #8294 (TAXI) on your AT&T wireless phone. You must be 21 years of age or older to use the SoberRide service.

http://www.wrap.org/soberride/

If any of you in other homeports have information on local safe ride programs and would like me to add them to this blog post, then please leave a comment or send me an email.

I hope you all have a SAFE and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Pentagon Gouge: Badge Holders

Ahhh, badges.

If you work in or near the Pentagon, then chances are you've got AT LEAST TWO badges to either dangle from your neck or stuff in your wallet. I can't for the life of me figure out why your PENTAGON badge can't get you access to the PENTAGON Athletic Center (a.k.a. "PAC"), but there's TWO badges right there.

Depending on where you work though, you may have even more than those two badges to keep handy - such as an IC badge, but then you'd also like to keep your CAC card and Metro SmartCard handy, too, right???

To complicate matters, each badge has it's own special needs...

The Pentagon badge and the PAC badge are both designed to swipe through the bar code reader at the turnstyles, so the hole to put it on a lanyard is off-center to enable you to swipe the card without taking it off the lanyard, but you can't put both on the same lanyard because they would block each other from being swiped. What I've seen some guys do is put the Pentagon badge and the PAC badge on the same lanyard, but back-to-back so one sticks out to the left and one sticks out to the right and you can swipe either one without taking them off the lanyard.

You have to be able to pull your CAC card out to stick it in your computer keyboard. The IC badge can't have anything else near it when you hold it up to the badge readers, so it kind of needs it's own separate badge holder or needs the ability to pull the badge out.

The Metro SmartCard is actually the easiest of all - you can actually leave it in your wallet and the SmartCard readers can still read it. I never actually take my SmartCard out of my wallet - just tap my wallet against the SmartCard readers and keep going.

I know it may seem like a trivial matter, but you will probably find yourself perusing the Pentagon gift shop within a week of reporting aboard and wondering which of the half dozen or so varieties of badge holders works best.

Six to choose from here, plus a couple more around the corner.

In my case, I was looking for one that would hold two badges. Initially, I was using a side-loading one like the one on the left in this picture:



The side-loading aspect was nice because it was easy for me to slide my badge in and out of the holder when I needed it to swipe in and out of the building. However (comma) it didn't work out so well in the end. You see, the little plastic thing in the middle that puts pressure on the badges and keeps them in the holder eventually wears out and breaks off. Then, your badges have a tendency to just slide out and fall on the floor when you aren't looking.

That would be bad.

I suspect the badge on the right in the image above would have the same problem with the plastic tension device wearing out, but at least gravity would keep the badges IN the badge holder for you. The problem with the badge holder on the right is that in order to take one badge out to swipe it, you have to take both badges out, and then you're fumbling around with both badges out of the holder and risk dropping or losing one in the process of putting them back.

The badge holder I'm using now is one of these:



I like it because:
1) It loads from the top, so gravity keeps the badges inside.
2) It doesn't have any plastic tension device to get worn out and break off.
3) It's got convenient finger holes on the front and back that enable you to push up either the badge in the front or the badge in the back without affecting the other badge in the holder.

Here endeth the unsolicited advice on badge holders.

Follow Up on Parking Meters

***Updated post 13 Jan 2010 with one more negative (thumbs-down) lesson learned.***

***Updated post 6 Nov 2009 with one more negative (thumbs-down) lesson learned.***

I'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath to read MORE of my observations about the new Pay-and-Display parking meters around Arlington, VA. (They're also using them in DC as it turns out.) SonarMan's comment convinced me I should go ahead and post this - at least I know HE'S reading it. :-)


Observations of Pay-and-Display Parking:

Recently, I had the opportunity to use one of the new Pay-and-Display parking meters in Arlington. Overall, I like them a lot. Here are a few observations about the differences between the old coin-operated parking meters and the new Pay-and-Display machines.

Thumps-Up: Plastic

It's going to take me a while to unlearn this habit. I've been like Gollum in the Hobbit when it comes to collecting and hoarding precious quarters. What has it got in its pocketses??? I intentionally buy things and pay cash to get the change, and I find myself giddy with excitement when a purchase comes out just barely over a dollar amount so I get THREE quarters and some spare change in return.

Yes, sad, I know.

It's not even like I drive to work that often. It's just that on those infrequent days that I DO drive to work, I end up using... let's see... 75 cents per hour, that's 3 quarters per hour times 10 hours (one of the reasons I will drive to work is if I know in advance that I'm going to be late at work and not able to catch the last bus), so that's 30 quarters in one day. So even though I don't drive to work that often, when I do drive, it drains my supply of quarters very quickly, and it generally takes me a week or two to slowly build up my supply to afford another day of parking without a special trip to the bank to buy a roll of quarters.

The Pay-and-Display machines take credit cards - cha-ching! No more hoarding quarters!



Thumbs-Up: No more wasting money before 8 a.m.

Around my office, you have to pay to park in the metered spots on the street between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. If you arrive at work at 7 a.m., then you could choose not to put any money in the meter and run back to your car at 7:59 to feed the meter before your car turns into a pumpkin at 8. If you have meetings to attend and won't be able to get back out to your car though, you end up putting in money and paying for that hour from 7 to 8 a.m. even though you aren't required to pay before 8 a.m. The old parking meters didn't care. They just took your money, displayed the doomsday clock count-down until the parking enforcement officers could slap that parking ticket on your windshield.

That was 3 additional quarters from my precious hoard.

With the new Pay-and-Display machines, it's just a slip of paper you display on your dashboard, no doomsday clock countdown. The slip of paper method doesn't make you pay for any time before 8 a.m., which is a nice segue into my next point...



Thumbs-Up: Expiration Time

I'm not a morning person.

My brain doesn't fire on all cylinders until after the caffeine from my second cup of coffee has seeped through my veins and the sun climbs up over Maryland and peeks over Reagan National Airport and through the blinds of my office. When I'm standing there in the pre-dawn darkness and staring at the parking meter at 6:45 a.m., my math skills aren't the best tools in my toolkit. I'm about as likely to recite the Greek alphabet backwards than I am to correctly add two numbers in hours and minutes format. I end up using the fingers on both hands to count out the number of hours and figure out how much time should appear on the doomsday countdown clock to make my parking meter last until my expected departure time.

The new Pay-and-Display machines are very helpful for the non-morning-people-mathematically-challenged people like me. As you push the buttons to adjust the amount of money you want to put on your little slip of paper, the digital display does NOT indicate the elapsed time for which you have paid. It displays the absolute value, actual-no-shit-clock-time that your parking slip will expire. Viola! No math involved!

Thumbs Down: NO paying before 6 a.m. (Added 13 Jan 2010)

While I like the fact that you can't waste money before 8 a.m. (you just pre-pay for the time after 8 a.m.), I discovered today that the pay-and-display machines will NOT let you pay before 6 a.m.

I had an early meeting at the Pentagon and had to get stuff from my office and book it over there, so I arrived at 5:45 a.m. Unfortunately, nothing on the meter electronic display or printed instructions says anything about the fact that you can't pay before 6 a.m. I inserted my credit card, and it said, "Please withdraw card quickly." I did. It said something like, "Please wait," and I sat there. After like a minute of freezing my butt off in the 22F morning chill, it said something about failing to read the card and went back to the original display screen.

I repeated this process again with the same card.

Then I did it again with a different card.

Then I tried two other pay-and-display machines on either side of where I parked.

All with the same result: Nothing. Then some guy saw me and told me that they won't accept payment before 6 a.m. So I sat there until 6 a.m. and noticed that the display changed from saying, "Free-Parking" to saying, "Pre-Pay Until 8 a.m." like in the picture up above. Then I swiped my card and it went right through. I just wish I would have known - I would have stayed warm in my car and waited for 6 a.m. to roll around instead of freezing my butt off trying multiple cards in multiple machines.

Thumbs Down: No easy extension

I mentioned before that one of the reasons I periodically drive to work is if I know in advance that I will be at work late. One of the other reasons I periodically drive to work is if I know in advance I plan to leave early for some special occasion. Monday was one of those days I thought I would be able to leave work early. Mmmmm, not so much.

With the old parking meters, if I needed more time at work, I could just go out and plug a few more quarters in the machine, and it would wind-up my doomsday count-down clock adding another hour to the display on the meter. It didn't matter when you did this, as long as you did it before the meter expired and the parking-enforcement dude put that ticket on your windshield.

Not so with the little slip of paper on your windshield.

Let's say your current parking slip says it expires at 2 p.m. If you find out that you have an urgent meeting to attend at 1 p.m. and have to leave at 12:30 to head over to the Pentagon, then it doesn't matter that you've still got an hour and a half an hour left on your slip of paper - you're gonna pay for it again in order to get a new slip of paper that lasts until after you think the meeting will be over. Essentially, in order to be able to NOT double-pay for any time, you have to go down and buy your new parking slip EXACTLY when the first parking slip expires.

Bummer.

However (comma), in the grand scheme of things, I can live with this.

Thumbs-Down: No Down Button

When you go down to buy a Metro ticket, there are both up AND down buttons to raise or lower the value of the ticket you are purchasing. Not so with the Pay-and-Display meters. There are three buttons:
- MAX
- $1
- 25 cents
You can push the button to raise the amount you wish to put on your parking slip, but if you accidentally push the button one too many times, then what do you do? Both me and one of my coworkers discovered the answer the hard way. Interestingly enough, BOTH of us figured that since there is no down button to lower the amount, then we should just keep pressing the dollar button and once it got past the max for the day it would cycle back to the bottom dollar value again (sort of like changing the time on a clock that only has one button for hours and one button for minutes).

Nnnnnope!

If you keep pushing that dollar button and it reaches the max value for the day, then WHAM! it dials into the bank and charges you the max. There's no "are you sure?" or "please press this button to confirm your purchase." It just charges you the max.

So, lesson learned, if you push the button one to many times and have more money / time displayed on the Pay-and-Display termain than you wanted, then your options are:

A) Push the cancel button, get your credit card out of your wallet, and start over again.

B) Suck it up, push the green "print receipt" button and take the additional time on your parking slip.

Thumbs-Down (sort of): No Free Parking

Once in a blue moon, I used to get a visit from the free parking fairy. If you park in a metered parking spot and the parking meter display says, "Out of Order," then CHA-CHING! CHA-CHING! FREE PARKING! You didn't have to pay to park there if the meter was out of order.

Aside: I heard about a guy who used to carry mass quantities of NICKELS to pay for his parking. He would feed them into the parking meter until the meter was full and couldn't take any more coins. Then the Out of Order sign would pop up because the meter was full, and he would (only sometimes, I suspect) have spent less total money on parking for the day than he would have if he had paid the 10 full hours in quarters. That's just a rumor I heard though, who knows if it's just an urban legend.

Anyway, there's no more free parking fairy with the Pay-and-Display machines. The first Pay-and-Display machine I walked up to on Monday was out of order. In my early morning, not-firing-on-all-cylinders-yet state, my initial reaction was one of elation and joy that I got free parking for the day. Then I read the, "PLEASE GO TO ANOTHER PAY-AND-DISPLAY MACHINE" message in the digital window, and I felt like a deflated balloon as my shoulders slumped. The machines are spaced about two per block on each side of the street, so you just have to walk to the next machine down to buy your parking slip to put on your dashboard.


So there you have it. Kevin's not-entirely-useful, totally-random observations comparing and contrasting the old coin-operated parking meters with the new pay-and-display machines.

Overall, the Pay-and-Display machines are clearly a good thing.

Pentagon Gouge: Infrequent Parking

When you work in or around the Pentagon, they give you a choice. You can either have:

Option A) A Pentagon Parking Permit

-OR-

Option B) The National Capital Region Mass Transit subsidy

If you ask me, I think mass transit is THE way to go in the DC area.

However (comma) there will periodically come a time when you will need to drive in to work. When that happens, where do you park?

Around the Crystal City, your options are metered spots on the street or underground parking in the garages. The garage under my building costs an arm, a leg, and my first-born child. Okay, it's not THAT bad. It's like $17 for the day. That's still pretty darn high if you ask me. I prefer to find a metered spot on the street.

There are two types of parking meters around Crystal City: BLUE and GREEN. The BLUE metered spots cost $1 per hour and are limited to 2 hours. The GREEN metered spots cost $0.75 per hour and are limited to 10 hours, so I always seek out the GREEN metered spots because they're cheaper and last longer without having to run out in the rain or snow to put more money in the meter.

Actually, reading the Arlington website description of the parking meters linked above, I learned that it's actually illegal to run out and put more money in the meter. They say it's illegal to park there for longer than the time limit of the meter.

Lately (summer 2009) they have been replacing the coin-operated parking meters with new high-tech Pay-and-Display machines in which you can use a credit card or cash. The new machines spit out a slip of paper that you then display on your dash board, but I think the blue and green color coding of the parking spots (that used to be blue or green parking meters) has remained the same.

Anyway, that was sort of a long tangent and not actually the reason why I started to write this post. I actually learned something new that I thought was worth posting here in the Pentagon Gouge.

You can park in Pentagon parking and keep your mass transit subsidy. The mass transit benefit website says you are allowed to do this up to 5 days per month. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to be in some admiral's office at 0600, so you have to leave home long before your normal bus service starts, then it might be useful to just park in the Pentagon parking lot and get to your meeting with the admiral on time.

IF you need to do this, then you should park in the Hayes Lot. The Hayes Lot is across the street from the Pentagon City Mall, along Army-Navy Drive and Hayes Street, and there is a pedestrian tunnel from the Hayes Lot under I-395 over to Pentagon South Parking. After you get into the Pentagon, you just need to stop by the Pentagon Parking office at 2D1039 (inside the Pentagon Metro entrance, up the escalators, off on the right in the D-ring before corridor 10). There are computer terminals there where you enter your car's license plate and the fact that you parked in the lot for the day. This will prevent you from getting ticketed or booted.

Map from Pentagon Parking

Recap: If you receive the Mass Transit Subsidy, but infrequently have to drive to work, then your options are (listed in order of preference):
1. Park in Pentagon Parking (Hayes Lot) and sign in at the computer in the Pentagon Parking office in 2D1039.
2. Park in a GREEN metered spot around Crystal City. Either bring a bunch of quarters if you find one of the older spots, or find the new Pay-and-Display machines that take credit cards.
3. Park in a parking garage (and go ahead and fill out that home equity loan application).

Pentagon Gouge: Mass Transit Subsidy Distribution

Reminder for folks in the DC area: The National Capital Region (NCR) Mass Transit Subsidy distribution is this week. Don't forget to stop and pick yours up!

To see the schedule when and where they are being distributed, visit this website from a .mil computer.

Pentagon Gouge: Gym Membership

Sorry I didn't get a Pentagon Gouge post up last Monday. What can I say, it was a holiday and I was busy picking out pumpkins and enjoying the farm scenery in the country.

I learned something new recently that I wish I had known before I reported aboard. Well, at least before I signed up for my PAC (Pentagon Athletic Club) membership.

If you're an O-4 or above and you work in Crystal City, then I highly recommend getting your gym membership at the Sport & Health Club.


It turns out, the Navy Staff ("OPNAV Staff") has a special agreement with the Sport & Health Club. Members of the OPNAV Staff can join the Sport & Health Club at the same rate as the PAC ($20 per month or $240 per year at the time I wrote this). That's considerably less expensive than the normal Sport & Health Club membership, which is in the ballpark of $90 per month. The special OPNAV Staff membership doesn't get you access to ALL the Sport & Health outlets across the country like a full-blown membership would, but it gets you access to the TWO Sport & Health Club locations in Crystal City (one at the north end and one at the south end).

If you're O-3 or below, then membership at the PAC is free, and I'm all about free. However, if you're O-4 or above and have to pay for your gym membership no matter where you go, then you get much more bang for the buck at the Sport & Health Club.

Unfortunately, I didn't find out about this deal until after I had already paid for a year membership at the PAC. So I just used the PAC for the first year I was working in Crystal City. When my PAC membership recently expired, I switched over to the Sport & Health Club, and WOW what a difference!

What do I like about the Sport & Health Club?

- It's closer to my office.
- It's bigger than the PAC Annex in Crystal City.
- It has racquetball courts (and lots of them).
- It also has tennis courts, but (a) I don't play tennis, and (b) playing tennis costs extra.
- The southern Crystal City location has a swimming pool.
- It has free classes.
- There are six TVs in front of the cardio machines. Each TV is tuned in to a different channel and you can listen to the audio channel for whichever TV you want to listen to. (The PAC Annex has ONE TV on, and the volume is on so you get to listen to it whether you like what's on or not).
- They provide towels (so does the PAC though).
- In the men's locker room, there's both a hot tub and a sauna (there's just a sauna at the PAC Annex).
- I could almost get away with not bringing any bathroom-kit with me. In the showers, they have large dispensers of shampoo, body wash, and conditioner. At the sinks, there are large dispensers of hand-soap, shaving cream, lotion, tissues, and Q-tips. Pretty much all I need is a comb or a brush for my hair.
- They have a nice, modern, digital scale with a zero function and a crisp readout to the tenth of a pound. At the PAC Annex they have this arcane old scale with a HUGE dial that indicates anywhere from 0 to 300 pounds. It will tell you your weight within about 5 to 10 pounds of accuracy.
- The lockers are bigger and have both a hang-up bar and hooks on the side, a shelf up top and a little tray on the door for storing things. Plus, there is a mirror right there in the door of your locker so you can comb your hair without having to walk back over to the bathroom.
- They have rental lockers available. You can pay $20 per month, or $200 for the year if you pay in advance. That way you can just leave your racquetball gear, shower gear, an emergency set of black socks, etc in your own locker. (No rental lockers are available at the PAC Annex).
- You don't need to bring a padlock with you to secure your locker. The lockers each have a little key. At the PAC Annex, you figure out which lockers are empty by trial and error (open one door, nope - somebody's stuff is in there, open another door, nope - somebody's stuff is in there...). At the Sport & Health Club, you can tell which lockers are available because there is a key in the door.
- Added 11/09/2009: There's a little side-room off the men's locker room with an iron and an ironing board in it! That's cool.

So, like I said... If you're on the OPNAV staff working in Crystal City and you're O-4 or above, then I recommend going to the Sport & Health Club instead of the PAC Annex.

Pentagon Gouge: Flu Shots

Update 10/6 @ 1155: Just got an email saying they are running short on flu vaccine, so they are only giving the flu shots to active duty military.

Heads-up for folks in and around the Pentagon: Flu shots are being given at the DiLorenzo Clinic in the Pentagon this week (5-9 October) from 0800-1500.

NOT Guaranteed Ride Home

Dear Commuter Connections,

GO SUCK AN EGG!!!!

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

According to the Commuter Connections website, they offer this great program called Guaranteed Ride Home (GRH). Here's what their web page says (I have added some emphasis by highlighting portions of the text in red):

Guaranteed Ride Home (otherwise known as GRH) provides commuters who regularly (twice a week) carpool, vanpool, bike, walk or take transit to work with a FREE and reliable ride home when one of life’s unexpected emergencies arise.

Commuters may take advantage of GRH up to four times per year to get home for unexpected emergencies such as a personal illness or a sick child. GRH can also be used for unscheduled overtime when your employer mandates that you must stay late.

GRH is designed to rescue commuters who are worried about how they’ll get home when an emergency arises. Knowing there’s a guaranteed ride home allows one to use commuting options like transit and carpools with peace of mind and confidence.

Best of all, the GRH service is FREE!

Some restrictions apply so be sure to read the PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES

Questions? Call us at 1-800-745-RIDE.

Yeah, notice that nefarious little "some restrictions apply" caveat at the end???

So there I was...

It had been a looooong week. I had missed the last bus home from Crystal City most of the week, so I had to take the Metro over to Rosslyn to catch my backup late bus from there. My wife was not happy about eating dinner without me multiple times last week.

Along came Friday. My last appointment of the day on Friday was a 1 p.m. meeting in the Pentagon. Given what a tough week it had been, I said to myself, "Self, I'm gonna go home early this afternoon as soon as I get out of that 1 p.m. meeting."

"Tee-hee, we'll just see about that," said Murphy.

Then all-hell broke loose at the meeting, and next thing I knew I was frantically running around like a chicken with my head cut off, gathering information and writing urgent action memos for flag officers.

I made it back to my office the first time about 5:30 p.m. As I walked in the door, I was alarmed to discover my phone was ringing. You know what they say about not answering the phone after 4 p.m. right? (Especially on a Friday!) Well, I missed it - I picked up the phone right as the call went to voice mail the first time. I said to myself, "Self, if it's important, they'll call back."

Ring ring.

I picked up the phone. One of my coworkers coming back from our urgent tasking around the Pentagon was apprehended by the Pentagon Police because he didn't have his courier card.

Doh.

I was the ONLY one left from our office. Everybody else had gone home for the day. I had to rescue my shipmate from the clutches of the Pentagon Police. So I dropped my stuff in my office, turned around, and headed out the door jogging the 3/4 mile stretch back to the Pentagon. I had to talk to the duty sergeant and sign for custody of my shipmate and the documents he was carrying without his courier card.

No sooner had we been released by the Pentagon Police then the cell phone rang. The admiral's executive assistant (EA) recalled us to the Pentagon to bring back the materials we had just finished reviewing in the admiral's office. Back we went into the Pentagon.

By the time we got out of the Pentagon, got back to the office to drop off the important stuff, picked up our personal things, and got to the Metro, I knew it was going to be too late. The absolute very last bus I can catch home is at 7:30 p.m. I got on the Metro about 7:20, and arrived at the bus stop about 7:34 to an empty bus platform.

So, tell me, dear readers... Wouldn't YOU consider this an example of "unscheduled overtime when your employer mandates that you must stay late"???

I sure thought so.

I reassured myself, "Self, NO PROBLEM! THIS is EXACTLY why you signed up for that Guaranteed Ride Home program with Commuter Connections!"

Flipping out my sometimes-trustworthy, not-all-together reliable BlackBerry, I googled Commuter Connections and dialed the phone number to ask for my FREE and GUARANTEED ride home.

The GRH customer service representative answered the phone. I said, "Hi, my name is Kevin. I had to work late and missed my last bus home, so I need to get my Guaranteed Ride Home."

The lady on the phone said, "Well, that's only for family emergencies during the day."

I said, "Uhhh, NO it's NOT. Your website specifically says it covers unscheduled overtime."

She told me that in order to get a GRH in the evenings after overtime, you have to call during the work day and make a reservation to get the ride home that night.

Um.

Excuse me???

How the HECK does THAT qualify as "unscheduled" overtime??? If I KNEW in ADVANCE that I was going to be late, then I would have driven my car to work that day. If I KNEW in ADVANCE that a coworker was going to be apprehended by the Pentagon Police, then I would have said, "Hey, don't forget your courier card!" If I KNEW in ADVANCE that the admiral's office was going to call and ask us to come back to the Pentagon, then I would have taken my backpack with me from my office so I could leave on the Metro directly from the Pentagon. If I KNEW in ADVANCE that Commuter Connections wasn't going to HONOR what their WEBSITE says for the GRH program, then I wouldn't have bothered signing up for the program or promoting the program to other people on my blog.

I tell ya, up until Friday, I'd been singing the praises of Commuter Connections to every shipmate of mine who has transferred to the DC area.

In the end, I ended up calling a friend who lives near me in Ashburn to drive out and pick me up from the Herndon Monroe Park-n-Ride.

After looking into it, I see they require a "supervisor" at your business to confirm that you were working on approved overtime. Ya know, I can understand the need to have a supervisor certify that you were officially working on unscheduled overtime so that people don't abuse the program, but requiring reservations in advance to get a "guaranteed" ride home for "emergency" situations is just RIDICULOUS!

Why don't they have your supervisor confirm that it was unscheduled overtime on the NEXT business day??? If you don't turn in something signed by your supervisor the next day, THEN charge the person's credit card for the cab fare. What a concept!

Pentagon Gouge: Uniform Shift to Blues

Heads-up for those Navy folks in the DC area: The shift to blues is Oct 5th.
NOW would be a good time to dust them off and make sure you can find all the pieces and parts before you really need to put them on.


Also, the Navy Birthday Ball is on Saturday, 24 October at the Hilton in Alexandria.


The Naval District Washington message announcing the uniform shift is copied below. Please note, this message specifically addresses uniforms for military funerals such as those at Arlington National Cemetery or for briefings on Capitol Hill.

R 311605Z AUG 09
FM COMNAVDIST WASHINGTON DC
TO ALNDW
BT
UNCLAS//N05050//
MSGID/GENADMIN/COMNAVDIST WASH DC/N00M//
ALNDW/005/07
SUBJ/WINTER UNIFORM SHIFT FOR NAVY REGION NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON//

RMKS/
1. COMMANDANT, NAVY REGION, NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON (NRNDW) 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. NRNDW WILL SHIFT TO WINTER UNIFORM EFFECTIVE 0001, 05 OCT 09. THERE WILL BE NO TRANSITIONAL PERIOD.

4. UNIFORM OF THE DAY WILL BE:
A. OFFICER/CPO:
PRESCRIBED
SERVICE DRESS BLUE
ALTERNATE
SERVICE KHAKI
B. E1 TO E-6:
PRESCRIBED
SERVICE DRESS BLUE
ALTERNATE
SERVICE UNIFORM OR WINTER BLUE

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: SERVICE DRESS BLUE, E1 TO E6: SERVICE DRESS BLUE 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 BLUE.
(2) ATTENDEES: UNLESS OTHERWISE PRESCRIBED, OFFICER/CPOS: SERVICE
DRESS BLUE, E1 TO E6: SERVICE DRESS BLUE .
D. CAPITOL HILL:
(1) OFFICIAL BUSINESS: OFFICERS/CPOS: SERVICE DRESS BLUE, E1 TO E6:
SERVICE DRESS BLUE.
(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 P J LORGE, RDML, COMMANDANT, N00, 00171, USN//
NNNN
BT

Pentagon Gouge: Tomorrow is Car Free Day!

I'm going to see if I can make Pentagon Gouge my regular Monday post.

Reminder: TOMORROW (Tuesday, 9/22/2009) is Car Free Day in the DC Metro Area! If you register at the Car Free Website to either reduce or eliminate the use of your car tomorrow, you could win some free stuff.

Note, even if you already use public transit to commute, you can still pledge to go Car Free tomorrow.

As for me, I would normally drive to the park-n-ride in the morning (~5 miles away) and drive home again in the afternoon. Tomorrow, I plan to walk to the free Ashburn Farms Shuttle Bus and ride it to the park-n-ride and ride it home again in the afternoon.

Give it a shot!

Pentagon Gouge: Saluting Part II

Okay, so let's say, you were walking from a meeting at the Pentagon back to your office in Crystal City. You see approaching you a USAF colonel walking in the opposite direction toward the Pentagon. The colonel has his head down and is thumbing-away texting on his cell phone.

What do you do?

a) About face. Walk slowly the other way (the same direction he is walking) until he overtakes you. That way, the colonel can pass you without having to salute and you won't disturb him.

b) Right face. Walk quickly to the other side of the street. That way, the colonel can continue walking undisturbed and not have to salute you.

c) Clear your throat really loudly "AHEM!" so as to alert the colonel that you are in a head-on situation and he should expect to be saluted in the very near future. Apologize for distracting him as you pass.

d) Screech with terror, "OH MY GOD!!!" and point to nothing in particular behind the colonel. As the startled colonel whirls around to see what ghastly image has frightened you so, walk quickly past him and say, "By your leave, colonel."

e) Maintain course and speed. At an appropriate distance, salute and say, "Good afternoon, Colonel!" After the startled Colonel uses his cell phone to return your salute, go home laughing and write about it on Facebook and on your blog.

Yep, he kept his cell phone in his right hand, swung his right arm up, and touched the tip of his cell phone to the corner of his right eyebrow to salute as if his cell phone were his hand.

That was a first for me.

Pentagon Gouge: Uniform Shop has moved

Heads-up for those of you reading this in the Pentagon:

The uniform shop that USED to be located on the 4th deck, 2nd corridor (4C251) has moved. The new location is 5E1085 (basically, it's directly above the Metro entrance on the 5th deck).

Do yourself a favor, just go like you are going to the Metro entrance, then go upstairs (or up the elevator) from there in the 10th corridor. I discovered the hard way it is foolish and futile to try the rat-in-the-maze method to figure out a quicker way to get to the new location from the old location. No matter how promising any of those corridors look, you're gonna hit a dead end and have to turn around and go back.

I'm sure we ALL know the easiest way to get to the Metro entrance from wherever you are in the Pentagon, so I'm tellin' ya - just go there and then go upstairs from there.

Update July 2013:  I'm back at the Pentagon now, and they've finished all the construction / remodeling, so it's pretty easy to get around.  You can come at the uniform shop from just about any direction now.

The good news, the new shop seems bigger to me. It's hard for them to offer a complete selection of uniforms for the USN, USMC, USA, and USAF all in one place, so they don't tend to have a LOT of inventory of any given item. Still, I was able to walk in and find a new khaki shirt in my size pretty quick.

Pentagon Gouge: CAC Cards

So today I got my new CAC card (CAC = Common Access Card, the new high-tech version of the military ID card - wikipedia article). I knew that you could get them at the Pentagon badging office just inside the Metro entrance or at the OPNAV Staff Support office. The Pentagon badging office ALWAYS has a LOOOOOONG line of people waiting for CAC cards, so I opted for the OPNAV Staff Support office.

Actually, I tried to go yesterday but discovered they were closed for training on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1245-1415.

Lesson Learned #1: Know the hours of the office you are going to, and call ahead to verify the CAC card machine is working. I have walked past the office and noticed on occasion there will be a sign taped outside the door saying the machine is down, and it would suck to go out of your way to go get your CAC card just to discover the machine is down.

I went back again today, and it is by no means a fast process. Something about the bandwidth required to encrypt the contents of your CAC card means it takes at least 20 minutes to write your card. I arrived and signed-in at 1303, and they called my name at 1354. I walked out of the office with my shiny new CAC card at 1415.

Lesson Learned #2: Plan on being there a while, bring a book (or smart phone) to read.

After I complained on Facebook about how long I was waiting, a shipmate of mine responded that I should have gone to location X because I can make an appointment there. Unfortunately, at the OPNAV Staff Support office, they only make reservations for flag officers. Another friend responded that she went to location Y because she heard it was faster there. I didn't know any of these other locations existed.

So while I was getting my new CAC card, I asked where I could go to get my wife's new military dependent ID, and the nice petty officer working the front desk in the office handed me a flyer that lists several locations in the DC area where you can go for military ID cards (both CAC and dependent IDs).

Lesson Learned #3: There are MANY places around the National Capital Region for you to go get a CAC or dependent ID card. For the benefit of the rest of you who might need to renew your spouse's military ID or get a new CAC card due to a promotion, I thought I would share with you the list of locations they provided me when I visited the OPNAV Staff Support office today. Here they are:

PSD WASHINGTON (202) 433-4012
Mon-Thu 0630-1700, Fri 0630-1600
Bldg 92 (basement) 235 Wick Drive SW, Washington, DC 20373

ANDREWS AFB (301) 981-2276
Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri 0900-1600, Tue 0900-1800
Bldg 1414, 1st Floor, Andrews AFB, Camp Springs, MD 20762

ARMY CRYSTAL CITY NATIONAL CENTER 3 (703) 602-1135
Mon-Fri walk-ins from 0700-0730, 1200-1230, 1500-1530
Appointments for all other times
2531 Crystal City Ave 22306, 8th Floor

BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL (301) 295-0103
Mon-Fri 0700-1600
Detachment Bldg 8, Room 2213, 2nd Floor

BOLLING AFB (202) 404-3281/82
Mon-Fri 0730-1530
110 Luke Ave, Bldg 5681 Suite 220

FORT BELVOIR ARMY (703) 805-3405/5578
Mon-Fri 0730-1530
Bldg 213 20th Street Main Post

FORT MEADE ARMY (301) 677-9586
Mon-Fri 0730-1530, LAST CAC at 1300
2234 Huber Road, Fort Meade

FORT MYER (703) 696-3030
Mon-Fri 0800-1400 for last CAC / 1530 for last Dependent / Retired ID
Bldg 202 (Basement behind Officers Club), Fort Myer, VA

HQ USMC HENDERSON HALL (703) 614-7152
Mon-Fri 0800-1530 (closed for lunch at 1030-1130)
1555 Southgate Road, Bldg 29 Room 300

PENTAGON AIR FORCE (703) 697-4110
Mon-Fri 0730-1630
Only USAF Civilian CACs
Room 5A282

PENTAGON MASS CAC OFFICE (703) 697-9327/2266
Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri 0800-1600, Wed 0830-1530, LAST CAC AT 1530
NO DEPENDENT OR RETIREE ID CARDS
Room 1F1084 (inside Metro Entrance)

PENTAGON NAVY OPNAV STAFF SUPORT (703) 697-2806/6858
Mon-Fri 0800-1545, Closed for Training Tues & Thurs 1245-1415
Room 5A514A

QUANTICO MARINE BASE (703) 784-2758/2750/2759
Mon-Fri 0700-1630
102 Barnett Ave, Quantico, VA

WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER (202) 782-7758
Mon-Fri 0800-1200 (closed for lunch) 1300-1600
6825 16th Street NW, Washington, DC
Bldg 11, Room 1-86

Military Special Events and Ceremonies in DC

Sorry my blog posting has been light lately. I've been pretty busy planning this weekend's festivities in addition to my normal workload. Friday we had my promotion ceremony at the Navy Museum on Washington Navy Yard and Saturday we had a big wetting down party here at our house, and both events took a lot of planning and coordination and setup.

My wonderful wife and I could not have done it all without the help of our awesome family members who flew in from out of state to assist in the setup and cleanup of both events. Actually, I give myself too much credit. It was really my wonderful wife, dad, stepmom, stepbrother, and mother in law who did all the manual labor and hard work. Both events were a big success due to their efforts. I just sorta went with the flow of things.

You may recall I had a poll on my blog a few weeks ago asking for your opinions where to have the promotion ceremony. Although the Navy Memorial in downtown D.C. won the poll, the Navy Museum wasn't far behind in the votes and I opted for the Navy Museum. My main concern with the Navy Memorial was the outdoor location and the risk of either rain or of extreme heat and humidity in July. As it turns out, it was a very hot and muggy day outside, so I was glad we chose the indoor location (and it was still pretty warm inside the museum).

ES found a nice ring-side seat on a cannon to watch.

ES and YB (who commandeered my old cover)
heading into the reception at the Navy Art
Gallery next door to the Museum

On Saturday we had 50 adults and 17 kids over to our house for a wetting down party. You can read about the history and tradition of the wetting-down in this wikipedia article. Nowadays, there is no set standard for how to do a wetting down, and everyone comes up with their own variation on it. For another recent example, you can see photos on the Navy website of the wetting down on board USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN-76).

In our case, my dad and stepmom brought saltwater from the Pacific Ocean and my mother in law brought saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean. After everyone had a chance to eat dinner at the party last night, I put on my uniform and stood in the backyard for everyone to watch as I had my boys each pour the saltwater on my new collar devices.

YB and ES douse my new collar devices with
saltwater from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Lessons Learned on Planning Special Events in the DC Area:

For anybody else trying to plan a special event (such as a promotion or retirement ceremony), July 31st is a HORRIBLE day for such events (at least in the DC area). EVERYPLACE is booked. One place told me they were reserved back in MARCH for a ceremony on July 31st.

In between calling around different places to have my ceremony, I've been asking the question WHY is July 31st so bad. One rumor / speculation I heard was that a lot of people choose Oct 1st at their retirement date, and if you back up 60 days of terminal leave before the retirement date, that puts the retirement ceremony at... JULY 31ST!!! I don't have any empirical evidence to back this up, and I've been asking around trying to figure out why people would prefer to have a 1 October retirement date. One guy told me it has to do with the High Three retirement pay calculation and staying in until October 1 gives you credit for that year or something like that. Again, I haven't been able to look that up yet.

So the lesson learned is: Make reservations early!

In the course of calling around, I discovered lots of new places I hadn't thought of or known about before. Each time I called a place to find out if they were available on July 31st, after they told me "no, but did you try..." then would recommend another cool place nearby. It led me on sort of a fruitless wild goose chase (because everyplace was booked), but I learned about a lot of places to hold special events.

So if you're looking for a place to have a special event, here are some ideas:

- Navy Museum at Washington Navy Yard (WNY). They only allow one event per day and two events per week. During the event, the museum remains open to the public, but if you've been there, you know they don't get a lot of traffic being on base. In my case, luckily there was a cancellation, so we were able to get in there for our promotion ceremony.
Upside: They have periscopes. :-) Lots of cool Navy history. Indoor and air conditioned.
Downside: They don't allow food or drinks, so you need to find someplace else if you want to have any kind of refreshments or reception.

- USS BARRY (destroyer moored next to the Navy Museum). This is a popular spot for military ceremonies.

- Mordecai Booth's Pub. This pub on WNY is an Irish themed pub.

Aside: It's not all that exciting, but the story of the pub's namesake is in this article about the pub's grand opening. However, I liked the Irish toast they offered on the occasion: "There are good ships, there are wood ships and the ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are the friendships, and may they always be."

- Navy Art Gallery. This is right next door to the Navy Museum. This turned out to be an awesome location for our reception, and I'm very grateful to the staff at the Art Gallery for allowing us to host our event there.

- WNY Catering and Conference Center.

- Admiral Gooding Center (AGC). I didn't know this place existed until someone at the Washington Navy Yard catering and conference center recommended I see if they were available. This is more of a conference center, but it's a feasible location for a reception following a ceremony somewhere else close by (like the Museum where they don't allow food or drinks).

- The Optical Tower. I didn't even know this place existed until someone at the Catering and Conference Center asked me if I had checked their availability. The history of the place is pretty cool (in a geeky sort of way).

- Pentagon Chapel.

- Pentagon Hall of Heroes (2nd floor, just off Corridor 10 at the bottom of the ramps going to the 3rd and 4th floors).

- Pentagon Library and Conference Center. There are over a dozen conference rooms here, and I noted there are promotion ceremonies going on there.

- Pentagon Memorial

- The Navy Memorial (downtown DC next to the National Archives). This is where the Lone Sailor Statue is.

- The Navy and Marine Memorial. Small monument on the Virginia side of the Potomac River near the Pentagon, wedged in between the Mount Vernon Trail and the river. I would have gone to this location for my promotion, but due to the construction going on now, the parking lot is blocked off and it's impossible to drive there. I didn't think everyone would want to walk out there. It's a nice location with a beautiful view of DC though.