Off to Reno, thence to Fallon, NV. Nearly three weeks this bout, the good Lord willing and the dam don’t break.
It’s been a nice weekend, and I hope you enjoyed yours.
You are invited and welcome to talk amongst yourselves.
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Targets of Opportunityblog advertising is good for you Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke “You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Amazon AssociateFor the Effort!Winnar! Subscribe CategoriesPagesTagsacademy
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Have a great business trip. Don’t forget to take the helmet cam.
Let the liquor locker raiding talk commence. Although I must say, the good CAPT’s stock must be running low, after the last few open threads. Anyone up for a road trip to VX’s Barbancourt warehouse? I hear his stock of Rhum Barbancourt Estate Reserve is excellent.
NaCly, I suspect his Lexness has given said helmet cam a dry run: http://youtu.be/VnjIJC7-gbA
The CAPT wisely spends a lot of time checking sixes, even in the mighty Varga.
There’s football to watch and good weather to enjoy here in the Bay State. Temps have been in the upper 60′s and even reached 71 yesterday at the annual Christmas Parade. If this is the outcome of global warming, I’ll accept it.
Good luck traveling Cap and hope you don’t have to deal with the craziness that must be flying commercial today with all the returnees heading home from Grandmas after the Turkey Day Feast.
Starting my new Director of HR gig next Monday after an extended stay on the bench. Finding new work after completing my last AFGHN gig was a struggle. Applied for over 100 jobs (CONUS & OCONUS) in the last three months which yeilded 5 interviews and finally one new position. I have much to be thankful for this year.
The President has been an utter failure at helping people get jobs (His idea of helping this issues was shoveling our tax $$$ to his union pals). Whoever succeeds him better do something to allow people to get back to work as the engine of our economy starts with people earning a paycheck, not getting a unemployment check.
Congratulations, damned hard to find paying work these days.
Understatement to say the least….living in the greater Boston area is a tad more expensive than other areas of the country so making sure I could maintain the salary level was something that made things even more difficult (if such a thing is possible).
Cost of living for a family of four in the greater Boston area is presently $ 67,500. If you are making less than that, you are slipping behind each and every month. I will likely look for weekend work in January as there is always a need for extra $$$.
Congratulations, SK1! These days, it takes as more work much to get a job than used to and even more to keep one. When I was living 40 miles to your north (Nashua), I was either “over qualified” or “under qualified” for positions in my industry and saw that it was time to move the brood OCONUS, here in California. We left BOS on Christmas Eve in a blizzard, back in ’95 with suitcases and not much more. While treading water, keep life simple and be thankful that you can tread water. The transition to prosperity is gradual.
Folks that I know in HR woruld recommend the following:
Tweet, and re-Tweet using LinkedIn.
Hire Veterans, as they are your best bet for stability.
With best wishes-
SJBill sends
Thanks – I appreciate the kind words. My family as been in Massachusetts since 1635… Hate to say it but moving is not an option….only other place the missus and I found to our liking is Hawaii….not sure I could earn enough to make that happen.
Grateful for all the support my shipmates here at the USS LEX have provided…been a fight but well worth fighting for.
Glad you have found gainful employment. It’s always good to have two checks to cash on the 1st and 15th.
Did a run out to some of the platforms. Weather was quite sporty, but nothing I’ve heard from some of the veterans of the North Sea. Still nowhere near as bad as flying out of Kodiak. That was pucker factor 11. Glad I’m nice and toasty here at the hotel ready for another run when the sun rises.
Speaking of cold weather helo flying, the new Coast Guard Kodiak show on Weather Channel is terrific. I’m glad the cameras were not around when I was flying about there a few years ago. The delay would’ve been used early and often.
Speaking of traveling, here’s something there probably won’t be much discussion on, just consensus. I travel a bit for work, not in the style that Lex does- so this would tick me off to no end. It’s a bit of bait and switch by the airlines- and it’s perfectly legal…for now. http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2011/11/21/its-amazing-what-airlines-get-away-with/?test=faces
My company tends to pay the full, reimbursable fare, so I don’t know if this would affect my travel, but I have been on a code-share flight quite a few times for vacations. Anybody know why airlines code share anyway?
May God keep you and yours safe, Lex.
This will certainly garner one of Snake’s coveted PPW awards but rather than “Lord willing and the dam don’t break” it should be “God willing and the Creek don’t rise. “God willing and the Creek don’t rise” was in
reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water. It was written by
Benjamin Hawkins in the late 18th century. He was a politician and Indian
diplomat. While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington . In his response, he was said to write, “God willing and the Creek don’t rise.” Because he capitalized the word “Creek” it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.
Thought I’d pass along some advice my broker gave me today.
I called my stockbroker this morning & asked him what I should be investing in as I feel interest rates are going to be rising as they did during the late 70′s early 80′s. So I asked him if he thought we ought to be looking to getting out of bonds & looking for a safe haven to invest. Should we move to precious metals, foreign currency or what?
This is what he said: “If Obozo is in office much longer, canned goods, water, and ammunition are your best bet.”
That right there. That is top-notch advice. Much better than the Wall Street Casino.
Don’t forget a good supply of toilet paper and/or my favorite from time in the sandbox, baby wipes.
Bags of Beef Jerky are always a winner too.
Boss/
RE: “Investments”—-A small cottage in Costa Rica with a cut-out dead-drop mailing address/box. LOL.
PS: THAT and lots of pre-pay credit cards, throw-away cell-phones, free wireless,and disposable USB memory cards. LOL
VX, you Sir, got me involved in sipping rums a cuppla months ago. It’s been an interesting journey. Two that I do not enjoy so much are Flor De Cana (Venezuela) and Zaya (Trinidad and Tobago). Talk about assertive molasses taste, caramel and vanilla!
I am zeroing in on Rhum Barbancourt 8 year (Haiti, can’t find the 15 year stuff) and Ron Matusalem Gran Reserve (hopefully, Dominican Republic). Have you tried Brugal?
Thought I’d never touch rum again after liberty in San Juan forty-plus years ago. Took me three days to recover from mostly rum and Cokes while touring every bar in Old Town. No, we weren’t doing eany COMREL projects during my time. My shipmates and I were fortunate to have found the bus for the return trip to Rosy Roads.
SJBill/
Barbancourt also comes in the slightly less expensive “3-Star” (4 yrs)as well as the 5-Star (which is slightly heavier) which is also very good. I’ve never tried their white rum (the few places that carry the dark don’t carry it–besides which I’m locked into Jamaica’s “Appleton White” for my Cuba Libre action–or Rite-Aide house stuff when I’m thirsty, supplies have run out (shudder) and I’m feeling lazy/desperate enough that I opt for the path of least resistance/traffic. (What can I say–I’m a philistine at heart besides being a confirmed rumhead
)
Flints, lead, molds, percussion caps.
Dies for .308, 7.62 x 39, 5.56, 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, and a few others. Also lots of bullets and primers for each. And powder.
Just don’t try to reload the steel cases for the ComBloc 30. They’re Berdan primed, and can’t be resized. Most of the ComBloc 30 is in steel cases. The AK and SKS can digest them, but others have a hard time with them, jamming quite frequently. Stay away from Wolf ammo too, unless you like dying.
CHAMBERING REAMERS! You can improvise a rifling jig, but the cartridge needs to fit. Yes, you can use some kinds of pipe to make pieces for low-pressure cartridges, at least according to the old Army improvised weapons manual.
Heck, JTG, just lay in a stock of barrels for black powder. If things get that bad, by the time you need to build your own you won’t be having to fend off hordes. You would still need to put meat on the table though.
Oh! I forgot – a spit-pot full of .22 ammo. Mostly high velocity, but also a considerable stock of CB caps. Why CB caps? Good for small game out to about 50 yards and almost silent from any .22 rifle. I’ve had a few rifles where the striker made more noise than the CB cap.
Good advice, Virgil. I have _never_ had a cell phone with my True Name on it. I use the names of Confederate Army officers, and vacant lots for addresses.
Well hate to say it but NSA will have you voice printed & identified regardless of the name the phone is registered under or where the bill is sent….
If you have a debit or credit card, file taxes, or own a vehicle, they have the ability to track you as they desire. The technology you know about is 1/8 the tools they have available to keep track of us….to think you can be off the grid by not registering a cell phone in your real name is naive.
Lighten up on the paranoia…..you’ll stress less & live longer. People like us aren’t who they are looking for as we are the ” good guys”
Sk, if it were just paranoia I’d be happy.
I have never had a cell phone contract, just the pre-paid ones. I know what you mean about the voiceprints, though. Is it really true that a wad of peanut butter on the roof of yer mouth will change the cavity shape enough to mess up the voiceprint?
I do know that G. Gordon Liddy and his buddies had things which looked like orthodontic retainers to stick in their mouths which were supposed to distort the sound enough to defeat voiceprints. That was, of course, a long time ago.
xairboss… My broker [yes, we have one, the same one my mother had when she was alive] seemed suddenly much relieved when I told him to buy shale gas and oil stock with the little legacy my brother left me. He questioned me closely about what we knew about shale gas and oil. It’s kind of a no-brainer, really. Canada is already producing lots of gas and oil from their shale deposits. Our current Administration is pretty annoyed that we have so many shale fields right here inside our borders. Obama’s Master Plan is to nationalize the energy sector as he did the health sector, and to do that he’s got to limit the shale production. Several months ago The Wall Street Journal had a whole section of its newspaper devoted to already proven reserves of gas and oil right here within our own borders. For more details, I suggest that you Google shale oil and gas fields for all the United States. Pennsylvania is already producing the proven reserves it has, and so is Texas. Now, Lisa Jackson, Obama’s EPA chief, is trying to stop this by claiming that the water deposits within our shale fields are going to be contaminated, but that’s a weak argument from a radical leftist who wants Uncle Barry’s approval. The water deposits are separated by several hundred feet of rock from the gas and oil.
The WSJ article noted that within the US alone we have more proven reserves than our restive neighbors in the Mid East have right now.
The production techniques needed for this kind of energy are already thoroughly developed and in use, so Barry and Lisa are going to have their work cut out for them to successfully ‘dis’ the facts of the matter.
Wouldn’t it be great if this all works out so we don’t have to depend on hostile nations for our energy? The country would reverberate with sighs of relief.
Marianne
Marianne, I shared a house with a Navy lawyer back in the late 60s and he was a big proponent of shale oil back then. He had grown up in Green River, Wyoming and said it was only a matter of time before the technology to extract it economically made it feasible.
The big problem with the NW Colorado Kerogen Shale is that it takes a lot (I mean a lot) of water to produce the oil from those deposits. I don’t know if they’ve found away yet. Gas is no problem, although, from what I understand, they have to frac more frequently than you do with the deposits we have produced in the past. The fluids used to hydraulic frac are what the arguments are about. The Gaia types are afraid they will contaminate drinking water sources. The largest component is water, but there are other things that could cause concern.
QM/
IIRC they had developed a method (experimental) over a decade ago to insert/drill a heating element into the rock so as to liquify the shale deposits and then recover thru more standard methods. thus avoiding the H2O problem. Status? Anyone?
The weakness of the method is you have to keep the stuff hot. The method is very energy intensive.
“Occupy” Denver Airport.
sort of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P99p6l8v0FQ
I checked out the helmet cam test drive….talk about a well greased head on a swivel! when your noggin is the tripod, you have to decide to work, or be artful…..or get a dashboard mount.
Die well Lex.
Say, whatever became of FuzzyBearLioness? I haven’t seen her around here in a long while.
She’s posted a few times recently. She’s not too active on any of teh blogs she used to post on.
By their own words!
“The were trying to leave and trying to clear a path, and so we sat down, linked arms, and said that if they wanted to clear a path they would have to go through us.”
Obstruction? Unlawful detention? Utter stupidity?
meanwhile, the Iranian Navy, to use a term loosely, has taken delivery of three new reefs in being…
the article is chock full of LOL, even for a ground pounder like me.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007274899
From the looks (permanent snorkel mast, lots of projections, etc) they must be pretty noisy. Looks like they could be sunk with a PDC (Practice Depth Charge) that we used for training and signaling. Prolly not worth a MK48…
The Gulf ain’t all that big or all that deep. Why design an open ocean vessel when you don’t need one?
“The submarine has been designed and manufactured according to the geographical and climate conditions and specifications of Iranian waters, according to military experts.”
Which means, no problem if sunk in the littorals.
One of our airplanes just landed in Japan and will fly a couple of missions to Guam. After that, (Nov 30 or there abouts) we are looking for a load back to the U.S. Only rule is we won’t do an ACMI deal for a one-off trip. The airplane can carry 112 tons and has about 22,000 useable cubic feet (B747-400F). Open for ideas…
Attention! C-130 on deck! And oldie but a goodie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM5AI3YSV3M&feature=player_embedded#!
If the F-35 goes to the fleet, that’s the kind of COD AC they’ll need if they need to deliver an engine to a bird farm.
Yep, I believe it worked just fine every time they tried it. No arresting gear needed.