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David's Holiday News Letter

It is hard to believe that it is that time of year already. Where has another year gone? Days you want to be over seem to drag on and those free days that are few and far between fly by. The year started off in a whirlwind fashion as only projects at work can produce. And as expected life and work seem to grind to a halt upon my return to Augusta.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful year. For me it has been another year of reconnecting with old friends. Though, unlike last year, it has not been a big year for special events like weddings, moves, etc.

At the "press time" I have no idea what to expect in 2010 except that I will be employed.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

YIP (Year In Pictures)

Three Months in Tacoma

Last October I accepted a promotion at work that pulled me away from the Officer Training Division at the US Army School of Information Technology. I was moved to one of our current projects with the Army known as WIN-T. The second phase of the project was preparing for a "limited user test" to be conducted simultaneously at Fort Stewart near Savannah and Fort Lewis near Tacoma. In order to perform the test, users first had to be trained on how to operate the equipment. Well, before that could happen the training material had to be researched, developed, and approved prior to the beginning of training in January. October through December I bounced around between our facility near Boston and Fort Huachuca near Tucson before heading to Tacoma the Saturday after Christmas. If you think back to that time frame you will remember the weather was not friendly to air travelers. Well, I was snowed in in Providence and Washington DC. Even our training material arrived in Tacoma a week late due to snow in the "pass". Development of some of the security training material slowed to a crawl when the other two trainers working on that with me quit. Luckily another team member was able to help and along with a contractor and many LONG hours, days, and weeks, we were able to pull things together prior to our classes being taught mid-February. After classroom training we moved into crew-drills March 2nd. Shortly after that all trainers headed home since we are not allowed to be present during the testing. The links below will provide information about how the test went. I did manage to squeeze in a little free time. I was able to finally meet my cousin Marc. We were able to meet for dinner one night and hang out in downtown Seattle one afternoon. I wish that I had something like the Pike Street Market to shop in locally. Never had chance to even make to his house and meet the dog. Took the train along the coast to Portland to visit my Aunt Janet & Uncle Jay for a weekend after all the work was done. A relaxing weekend of just hanging out with the dogs. Nice to be near a city, but not “in” the city. I got to see my friend Darren for dinner a couple of nights. We had not seen each other since our band days in high school. The second night we went out with a group of his friends which was a lot of fun. I always enjoy doing the “non-tourist” things. I did make it out to Mount Rainer a few times, before work. Sundays I did not go in until noon or so. I would get up early and drive the hour or so to the park and be there as they opened at 8 am. Of course those days it was never clear. A group of us went back there one day after we had packed and shipped our gear. That days it was perfectly clear as you can see on previous page. “A View from Paradise”

Google Search - "Army WIN-T" <click here>

Press Release: Military & Aerospace Electronics <click here>

Press Release: Military Information Technology <click here>

Press Release: Defense Web <click here>

Christmas in March

Since I was busy during the Christmas season last year we really did not do Christmas. Yes, a present free Christmas. When I flew from Seattle back to Illinois to get my truck I shipped some fresh seafood to my brother’s for a family cookout. Apparently I did a bad job of estimating what I needed to feed everyone because my brother had to invite some friends over to help us eat it all. The king crab legs were literally as long as my arm.

www.freshseafood.com

Another New Hood

For some reason, since I have had my little Ford Escape SUV I seem to run into things. Four months after I bought it I hit a deer (moments after getting a speeding ticket) in Peoria County. In July, it was the back end of a Ford Explorer. The accident happened where two streets merge together in Augusta. The lady in front of the guy I hit pulled away then changed her mind. The guy I hit missed her while I caught the corner of his vehicle. And of course she did not stick around. As a result I got stuck driving a Chrysler PT Cruiser for almost 2 months while my truck was being worked on. I hit him with the driver’s side fender which houses my battery and fuse box. The accident damaged the wiring harness that connects everything in the vehicle to the fuse box and the computer. It had to be replaced which required everything being removed from the inside of the vehicle (dashboard, seats, and carpet). Apparently it is installed before the carpet. Yep, close to $10,000 in damage. I never actually saw the final numbers. Oh yeah, no one was hurt. No airbags deployed. I was just mad. Especially, as one of my co-workers pointed out, I have only been driving it for 18 months out of the 24 months I’ve had it. The rest of the time it has been in the shop for the two accidents or I’ve been out of town on business.

Another Year Reconnecting with Friends

Besides seeing Marc, Janet & Jay, and Darren while working at Fort Lewis, I have been able to get back in touch with several friends whom I have not spoken with in years. People move or get busy and you just loose touch. Facebook, AKO (Army Knowledge Network), and the Air Force version of AKO are great. They have all been used to find others as well as people finding me. One of those friends is my old Army teammate from Germany. Billy had gotten out of the Army about the same time I did, but re-enlisted in the reserves recently and popped back into AKO. Billy is now preparing to deploy with his reserve unit. I did my one deployment to a sandy place and that was enough for me. Facebook has been great in getting back in touch with old friends from high school. I still have not figured out how some people have so much free time to constantly update what they are doing. Of course having one of those fancy smart phones helps. Just do not put too much info out there.

The Remodeling

Now, it’s just me and the cats. Since July I have been working on remodeling parts of the house room-by-room. Currently I only have carpeting in the dinning room. During my stint at Fort Lewis earlier in the year my hot water heater broke. As a result the carpet in the den and living room had to be removed. Since then I have gutted both spare bedrooms and the master bedroom. For now the bare concrete is fine until I decide what I want to do. At the moment every room is getting a fresh coat of paint from top to bottom as I try to figure out what I want to do with my 1970’s yellow and green bathrooms. These projects will hopefully be finished up by spring so I can start my outside projects. My yard was neglected during grad school. Bushes need to be cut back. I need to replaced the wood floor in my shed and the wood on my deck (if I decide to keep it). The deck just looks funny without the pool. Maybe I can just square it off.

Company Funded Trip

This year the annual Cisco Networkers Conference for the US was held in San Francisco. I still cannot convince them to let me attend the one in Sydney. Next year its in Las Vegas (again). As usual, I extended my trip a couple days after the end of the conference to spend the Fourth of July in San Francisco. I spent a day hiking around the Presidio. It is beautiful and full of history. Not to mention it is the fictional location of Star Fleet Headquarters. The following day I spent in Golden Gate Park, which has no view of the Golden Gate Bridge. After visiting the Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden I decided to hike to the other end of the park to photograph one of the two windmills located near the beach. I chose the windmill located on the southwest corner of the park. After hiking two hours I discovered I chose the one that was closed and dismantled for restoration. At least it was near the beach and near a train that went back downtown towards the hotel. It was a long week of walking up and down hills. At the beginning of the week I was able to conduct some other business. A photographer I know has recently launched a “Dive Photography” magazine. I was able to take the train into Oakland to meet with the publisher on ways I can help promote the magazine to area dive shops. Actually it is more of a coffee table book. Then I got to take the ferry back to San Francisco.

www.wetpixelquarterly.com

If you would like a subscription let me know.

Last Minute Addition - Shuttle Launch

T

he era of the Space Shuttle will soon be coming to an end. With the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) on Monday, November 16th, there are only five shuttle launches left. Why, basically it boils down to funding and the fact that there are only 5 external fuel tanks left and they are out  of production.  The factory has been re-tooled to do something else.

It is one of those things that I have watched on TV at least 100 times with the hopes of seeing it one day in person.  But, I always said, “Next Time.” Since there are not many next times left this was my chance.  I got a hold of some tickets that would allow me to view the launch from the “causeway” on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center.  This is as close as the public can get without being employees, press, or family.  I got a hold of my tickets around 6pm on Sunday evening when I realized that I had to be there by 6 am Monday morning.  So I ended up leaving immediately and driving all night to get to the KSC.  Spent all morning waiting around at the Visitor Center and then the Causeway.  The weather was perfect and there were no technical glitches to delay the launch. 

It was worth it!

Since my lens was not powerful enough for the distance I would be shooting I borrowed a camera and lens from one of the Augusta Photo Festival committee members.  So I end up with  my camera on a tripod triggered by a remote while I zoomed in with the borrowed camera which allowed me to follow the launch close up and further into the ski.  I was still a light weight compared to some of the other gear out there.  One of the guys on my bus had a Nikon with a 600mm lens, plus something else that pushed it to 900mm.  Through his lens I could read the writing on the wings of the shuttle from 7 miles away. I guess that’s what you get for $10,250.00.  In addition to that I had my dive camera on another tripod capturing video.

Then there was the added fun of scampering back to the buses because the harmful gas cloud was blowing our way.

2010 (11) Weeks of Vacation to Use

• Dive Trip to Roatan (February or March) ?
• Trip to Germany (February) ?
• Scotland-Clan Lindsey Tour & London/Stonehenge (September)
• Augusta Photo Festival (June) www.augustaphotofestival.org
• Continued Remodeling (of course)
• And wherever work sends me