Other People’s Leaves

Fall is one of my four favorite seasons. My least favorite seasons of course are almost winter, nearly spring, close to summer, and just about fall. Those four other seasons are full of incomplete expectations and frankly annoy the heck out of many people. For instance, right now is almost winter. Despite the calendar, we […]

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Really.

My Father was a sailor in his youth and grew into a man with a strong faith. He had many things to be proud of but one of the small things he loved was his contribution to the building of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County California. The amount of money wasn’t all that great, […]

IS THE FOUNDATION STRONG ENOUGH TO LAST?

I was about five years old when my Dad and Mom decided to move us to a new house. I remember going to the building site up on Duncan Station Road and seeing a hole in the ground surrounded by big grey blocks. In the bottom of the hole was cement and they put these […]

The Greatest Submarine Movies Ever

This subject always raises a lot of discussion and controversy. I am sure there are a lot of divided opinions about what actually makes a great submarine movie but they normally revolve around some basic choices. Is it an old movie from back in the day where John Wayne or Ronald Reagan played a critical […]

Something to be truly thankful for

Somewhere in the world tomorrow, men and women will be gathered together far away from home. Some will be keeping a watchful eye for dangerous activity, some will be far below the water’s surface and some will be launching aircraft in support or another mission to preserve freedom. If they are very lucky, they […]

Are you “Value Added”?

In the “lean” world, a lot of time is spent in determining which of your processes are “Value Added”, “Non-Value Added but Necessary” or “Non-Value Added”. There are a lot of definitions for these phrases depending on which consultant is trying to sell a new book this week. I try to keep my definitions pretty […]

Best …Visual …Ever

“Like little kids with propellers on their heads” Chris Matthews http://tv.breitbart.com/thrill-is-gone-matthews-turns-on-obama-i-hear-stories-that-you-would-not-believe/ Its really not too much of a stretch for me to imagine all of the staffers at the WH running around playing tag, having pillow fights in the Lincoln Bedroom, and whooping it up while the country burns. After the 2008 election, I […]

Angles and Dangles

I think every sub guy has his favorite boat and as I have indicated before, my favorite was the USS San Francisco (SSN 711). Maybe it was because I was on the pre-com crew and saw her come to life. Maybe it was just the combination of characters that served on her (many of us […]

Here, child, have some nice Kool-Aid

On this day in 1978 (November 18th): In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones coerced the members of his Peoples Temple cult to a mass murder-suicide. This single event claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. The term “drinking the Kool-Aid” is born and forever lives in the lexicon […]

Caught in the Crossfire

Its 3:00 AM and everyone in the control room party has managed to find a comfortable enough position to hide the fact that they are half snoozing. The room is rigged for red and the boat is plugging along at 4 knots at 150 feet. Even the Auxiliaryman of the Watch has laid his clipboard […]