Filed under: Home by Jason on June 3, 2009 @ 10:21 am
Tags: BDCP, Navy 2 Comments »
I met my recruiter in October of 2006 at a career fair at school. I submitted my application for the first time in January of 2008 and was not selected. I then submitted my application again in May of 2009, and on Monday, June 1st, I got the phone call that I was professionally recommended for the Baccalaureate Degree Completion Program for Information Warfare with the United States Navy!
I am very excited, to say the least. Along with the excitement comes a good bit of nervousness, though. For a good while the pro-rec seemed like an unreachable goal that I would be endlessly grasping at, especially after my non-select in 2008. But now, thank goodness, I have the biggest hurdle of the application process behind me.
So what is next?
In the upcoming weeks/months I will need to take my Physical Readiness Test (PRT) (see http://www.navy-prt.com for details), and I will go through my Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) for a Top Secret (TS) clearance. I signed papers yesterday allowing the clearance to begin.
I also have finger print materials coming in the mail that I will have to go to the police station (I will be going to my campus police station) to use to get fingerprinted, since my fingerprints from MEPS are no longer on file.
I was also curious if I was going to have to go back to MEPS, since my 2 years will be up this next December. My OR said that I shouldn’t have to do another physical until right before heading off to OCS.
So basically right now it is more waiting. I won’t get paid until I swear in, which is after the clearance. My time estimate until my Final Select is about 3 months. From following AirWarriors and USNavyOCS, it seems that 3 months is a typical wait period for Final Select.
Everyone that I have been telling about getting accepted into the Information Warfare community in the Navy has been what I consider “cautiously excited”. They are happy that I am happy, but all seem to ask the question, “are you sure you want to do this?” The only downfall, which is a big one, is the time apart from family and friends. But I have never been one to think that I will spend the rest of my life in Cincinnati, OH. Sure, I might end up here, someday, in the suburbs on the north side of Cincinnati, but I’m not ready for that yet. Let’s see where the road takes me, first.
Filed under: Home by Jason on June 1, 2009 @ 10:27 am
Tags: nonsense, Work No Comments »
When I woke up this morning, I did not realize how special of a day today would turn into.If I had known what would happen on this very day, my nerves may have kept me in bed all day long, the anticipation too much.Why, today of all days was chosen by the great unknown to be this monumental of a day for me, I do not know.
Today, this morning, around 8:45 am Eastern Standard Time, I filled my water bottle up with the hands-free automatic water dispenser all the way from bottom to top without the water ever turning off.
It was fantastic!
For so long I have been taking my water bottle into the break room each morning after arriving at the office. Sleepily I unscrew the black plastic lid and let it hang to the side of the translucent green ‘LIFELINE’ liter sized water bottle as I make my way to the giant silver beast that is our water dispenser.I do not understand why a machine that has the sole purpose of dispensing ice and water has to be just as large as our GINORMOUS industrial refrigerator.And each morning as I place the water bottle under the touch free water dispenser, I concentrate.“Do not move the bottle…” I tell myself as the quarter-inch diameter stream of water sloshes into the empty bottle.“The water is flowing… do not move the bottle… this is the time… do not move the bottle… this is the…” and that’s when the inevitable occurs.With no apologies of any sorts, the machine cuts off my stream of water.And then to add insult to dehydration, when I do get the water to start flowing back into the water bottle, it splashes whatever was in there before onto my hand or long sleeves.
Now I trust the machine.I am sure that it does not lie and I did indeed move the water bottle a percent of a percent of a millimeter, which caused the electronic eye to think that I was done.But it is such a letdown, and right at the beginning of the work day as well!
I have tried seemingly everything to keep the stream running.Set the bottom of the water bottle on the metal grate, no water.Push the side of the water bottle up against the electronic eye so it must know that the water should be flowing, no water.It just never makes sense.
Today was the day though.Where the metal grate base meets the silver skin of the beast is a little indent, the sweet spot.I set the bottom against the indent and applied a little pressure to keep the water bottle in place.And the water flowed!With the helping support and cooperation of the beast the water bottle slowing started filling.100mL … 200mL … 300mL … and it kept rising!The water level crept past lines, making its way to the ultimate goal of 1000mL.At about 700mL I started to get really nervous.“Is this the day?I don’t know if I am ready for this?” Past 850mL I think my hands started to shake a little bit.Passing 900mL my palms were getting sweaty and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on!The last 100mL seemed to take half a lifetime.As the line crept past the 1000mL mark I thought about giving a chant of joy, but decided to restrain myself.Instead, I had the biggest smile. I started off the morning with a great accomplishment.Before removing the water bottle from the now tamed beast’s electronic eye, I thought about savoring the moment even longer and letting the cold refreshing water overrun the mouth of the water bottle.But I had made my peace with the beast.I had it tamed and knew its secrets.Long gone were the days where I would be outsmarted each and every morning.
Filed under: Home by Jason on May 26, 2009 @ 9:46 am
Tags: nonsense, Work No Comments »
At work, I am not sure how it is even possible, but the corners of the walls between hallways seem to be especially sharp 90 degree turns.Now usually I wouldn’t imagine this being much of an issue.In fact, it gives nice and clean definition between hallways.But it is a whole new world when carrying a cup of coffee.
First off, I have trouble carrying cups of coffee while walking in a straight line.Back in middle school my friends would make fun of me because I bounced when I walked.I blame this on unnaturally large feet.I guess I eventually grew into them, though.I am about 6-1 with size 13 shoes.But I digress.
In addition to the act of carrying a cup of liquid that is not only scolding hot, but also threatens to leave a very large stain on my pants and or shirt with all the hours of the workday to go is probably more intimidating than walking a tight rope while juggling!And this is where the workplace waltz comes into the scene.
As you know, the waltz is a 3-step dance, usually at a quick pace.When walking around the hallways of work, the workplace waltz is a very common defensive move to avoid collisions with other co-workers.Whether you are carrying a cup of coffee or taking a brisk walk to stretch your legs between meetings, those sharp corners can get you.I am a fast walker to begin with.I tend to think that the time it takes to travel to a destination is time wasted (Although I do thoroughly enjoy my commute to and from work as that is my NPR time).As I am walking down the main hallway in my building, which tends to resemble an airport terminal, if I am not walking down the center of the hallway, certain human obstacles tend to jump out from random doorways or hallway connections.You know how this works, someone protrudes perpendicular to you, both of you are at full speed, Isaac Newton lifts his head up to chuckle as his laws have the potential to, yet again, lead to another disastrous and inevitably hilarious collision.
Looking to the side just in time to see another surprised face which undoubtedly mirrors the expression on my own face, I lift my right foot, twist my body and set it behind me so I am now facing at the 45 degree to the object of potential collision, which of course thanks to Newton throws me off balance.While my body threatens to fall and my right foot is now haphazardously planted, I take my left foot and bring it back to my right for step two and some stability.Since my right foot was initially planted without much thought other than “Yikes, avoid the ouchee!” it quickly gets lifted up and planted in a more authoritative position next to the left foot.All the while I have turned my body between 45 degrees and 180 degrees to avoid this collision.
All the energy that my body had in the forward horizontal motion was transferred to a stylish and safe three step workplace waltz.
Now for those of you reading this post, thinking about the near collisions you have had, remember that this is a fairly intermediate maneuver, not recommended for most new hires and interns without proper training. For the sake of workplace safety, there should be collision avoidance training for all new employees in an office building.For those co-workers that have not had this training, they might fall flat on their face, tripping over their feet.Some may just tense up and take the collision.
After mastering the workplace waltz, there are other applications of this maneuver that can take you into an advanced awareness of workplace safety.Remember that scolding hot cup of coffee we chatted about earlier?Well just remember, since your movement/energy is horizontally forward, it is not just your body that will want to keep moving forward, but also the cup of steaming liquid as well.I won’t go into too many details, but just as you transfer your energy into a turn, take consideration of the centrifugal force that you experience on a roller coaster loop or airplane, and angle your coffee cup, so that the liquid level stays level throughout the turn.
Hold those coffee cups away from your bodies, friends.Take those corners in the office cautiously slow.No one wants to spend the work day with big brown stains down their nice collared shirt.
Filed under: Home by Jason on May 25, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
Tags: Skydiving No Comments »
On to my next big adventure!
Melissa and I went out to Lebanon / Warren County Airport early yesterday (May 24th) morning for a day of learning about skydiving and making our first jumps. We have both wanted to skydive for a long time, so what better time than now to give a go!
Well holy smokes it was amazing! We spent from 8am to 1pm in the classroom and outside practicing procedures before actually putting on our gear and heading to the Cessna Caravan.
Once loaded and after takeoff, I was getting a little nervous about my jump. What helped me was that my instructors would ask me what I would be doing at certain altitudes of my jump (whatever altitude the plane was at). Talking about everything helped keep my mind on what we practiced and not on the idea of jumping out of the airplane.
Around 12,500 feet, it was time to go. I was the second to last group to leave the plane, and Melissa was the last. I scooted down the bench towards the door and concentrated on what we had practiced. In hindsight it seems like my mind was pretty numb at that point. I wasn’t thinking about the actual jump, but was only thinking about the procedures we had gone over for more repetitions that I care to count.
I took up my proper door position. Went through my hotel procedures… check in, check out, prop, up, down, FLARE!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
In what seemed like half of eternity, I just fell. The wind and the sight of nothing around me was sensory overload. I had both of my instructors with me, and realized that I had things to do. Although, when watching the video (see below), it didn’t seem very long before I started my circle of awareness.
My circle of awareness consisted of checking my heading, altimeter, check with left instructor for hand signals, check with right instructor for hand signals, and three pilot chute practice touches. On my first practice touch, I got my right instructors hand instead, but he helped navigate my hand towards the proper position.
All was fine and dandy. Soon, the videographer zipped down in front of me and filmed as I continued through my short circle of awareness. At 6,000 feet, I locked on to my altimeter with my eyes and watched until 5,500 feet. At that point I waved off twice, reached and grabbed my pilot chute and threw it as hard as I could. It took wind and took out my main chute out of the container and jolted me as we slowed down. All the while my instructors zipped away towards the ground. They had to beat me there so that they could get on the radio and help talk me through the landing pattern and touchdown.
The canopy ride was very nice. A little uncomfortable in the harness, but I managed. I checked the controllability of the canopy by making two 180 degree turns in opposite directions and checked my flare. I was about 3,000 feet when I was just chilling out. I made my way to the landing area easily enough and turned into a long downwind at about 2,000 feet.
I followed a tree line perpendicular to the runway and made my crosswind right turn soon before now running parallel to the runway. Descending quickly I made my turn to the west for the base leg. I was amazed at how quickly the ground came up during the last feet. My instructor was on the radio and helped me with the timing of my flare. My feet hit the ground but didn’t quite know what to do with that entire moving thing and I fell into a slide on my knees.
After the whole thing, my legs were shaking with excitement. It was a gorgeous day for such a fun new hobby. While walking back, I debriefed with one of my instructors. He had all good things to say. I had kicked my feet once or twice when we first left the plane, but he said I did very well and should be very prepared to continue my jump sequence.
So now that we have our first jump course out of the way, the jumps are cheaper from here on out.
The facilities at Start Skydiving are fantastic. One of my instructors had over 10,000 jumps and competes at world class level competitions. The computer manifest stations are very cool, where jumpers just scan their card and select the jump time that matches their schedule. I love the small uncontrolled airport feel as well. The restaurant on the grounds (which I think the chef is the wife of my videographer) was a little kitchen and a grill.
Fantastic experience, though. I can not wait to go out and continue the progression. I know Melissa feels the same way. We paid for a package deal that will get us our AFF jumps at a discounted rate (even more discount because we are University of Cincinnati students). So we are ready to head up and out, again!
So yeah, apparently Palin has apparently signed with HarperCollins to tell her’s and Alaska’s story. Oh, and guess what… HarperCollins just happens to be owned by Rupert Murdoch, surprise surprise…. grrrrrrr
Anyways -
When the word memoirs comes up, I always think of an old person writing about their life. They are typically writing about at least a part of their life that has just come to a close. Does this mean that Palin is closing up shop in Alaska? But maybe memoir is not the best choice of words for what she will be writing, though.
Sarah Palin was quoted stating that “There have been so many things written and said through mainstream media that have not been accurate, and it will be nice through an unfiltered forum to get to speak truthfully about who we are and what we stand for and what Alaska is all about.”
It just seems to me that this is not the point in life where Palin should be worrying about memoirs. She is calling a defensive formation out of the play book by using this unfiltered and (as she forgot to mention) non-confrontational medium to give her thoughts. Throughout the presidential race we saw her get slammed by the press many times for not being prepared on various issues (cue Katie Couric interview), and by using a book, she is not being put on the spot for impromptu and unrehearsed responses.
As 2009 has progresses, Palin disappears from the spotlight more and more. If she has politics on a national scale in her future sights, I think she is making a wrong turn with these ‘memoirs’. She should be working night and day on issues that are relevant to her constituents and in turn, all Americans (and yes… Joe the plumber). This way, when it comes time to be back in that spotlight, she can come out and say, “Well golly gee, while you all were poking fun at me and my family, look at all that I accomplished”.
Eh… I think Sarah Palin is just one big $ to anyone in the media. If you walk down the street and said the name Sarah Palin to people, I bet most would smile or give a little chuckle. She just isn’t respected like she should/needs to be. I hope the book deal does well for her, I really do. Heck, I’m drawn into the drama that is Sarah Palin’s political career as well… just make the book less than $10, and I’ll give it a read.
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