PETA Strikes Again

It seems that PETA ('People Eating Tasty Animals' if you ask some that I know) is having a conniption fit over the President killing a fly during an interview. See the Reuters version of the story HERE.

They call this presidential swatting of a fly an execution. Shall I have them over for a steak dinner to watch me execute some more? Do they remember where flies usually spend their time in the pasture? Should we go ahead and fill their offices with some more if it, since a lot of it seams to be spewing from their mouths? OMG!

I guess it's yet one more reason to remind us how uncommon, common sense really is.

Ages Ago...

Ages ago in a land far far away an incredible event occurred. One that had happened similarly before and that would happen similarly again many times after, but this one time was unique. This event as it was, changed the world as we know it, has guided lives courses, inspired and enraged through the years. The event, you ask. A child was born on this day in 1966. This child grew up to become my best friend, one that so many of us can count on at any time. What we have is unique, as is what he gives to the rest of us. He is celebrating the event with his wife and some friends in Las Vegas. An event I was not able to attend, so with this note.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN, J CAS, EAGLE ONE, MY BROTHER!

Great Day

Great looking day today. The plan is to nurse a sick son, Linda is getting a Pedicure with Ginger, I will mow the grass if it dries out enough, and will break out the rototiller in the planter box so we can add some more color and life to the back yard. Of course it may just be fodder for Huck's paws and jaws, we'll see. Time with the family before another business trip all next week. Have a great day yourself.

Anything and Everything or Nothing

What do I want to write about this evening? Not much on my mind really. Linda is officially accepted into graduate school, so life as we know it will come to an end :-) and a new life will begin (like every other day). My niece is graduating from college in May. I introduced Linda to my family (sister, mom and dad) when I first met Becky, a few weeks after she was born. She is going to work for the same very large corporation that I do, in another state, doing something completely different, but I've still got to say WOOHOO! great job Becky, I'm proud of you. I get to take Daniel camping this weekend with a bunch of other boy scouts, but it means I will miss some of the time that my mom and dad will be here on their way to Becky's graduation. Time to wind down from a day that was all over the map, but that is a different post that may or may not happen.

Ahhhh!

That first sip of coffee in the morning......Ahhhhhhh
Quiet time when no one else is awake......Ahhhhhhh
Chance for some needed rain today......Ahhhhhhh
Love in my heart and a smile in my eyes......Ahhhhhhh

Plan on having yourself a great day, I do......Ahhhhhhh

Life on the Outside

I had NO idea how much weight I was carrying on my shoulders with being on call 24/7 for over 10 years. I am having such an amazing time seeing all new areas of the company, not worrying about a page in the middle of the night or needing to go in on the weekend. WOW! Who knew! I've got a lot to learn, but I've also got a lot to offer, which is why I was chosen for the job. Hubble Space telescope, Juno mission to Jupiter, Commercial satellite for the Japanese, the next generation of manned missions (Orion) the list goes on and on. What a blast (no puns please). My life in general has changed for the better, and I can see great things in my future career with the company as I make and maintain contacts, become known as as expert, participate on independent review teams.....WooHoo!

It's Been a Long Time

It's been a long time since I last changed jobs. I have taken on new assignments, tasks, etc. but not a new job. I am excited, on edge, a little trepidation there too. I get the whole clean slate thing, but I also have to re-prove myself and my abilities. The nice thing about my new job is that my role is as an expert, and I am expected to be an expert, and will be assumed to be an expert. I get to prove them right. I am an expert, I do know what I am doing and I do have more than valid opinions. This new job will be technical in nature, but not hands-on, daily grind, work this section of code, troubleshoot this problem kind of job. Instead, as a test engineering expert, I will provide insight and oversight to programs, helping with both the big picture and the finer details. I will be stepping immediately into the shoes of one of my team of three, taking over for him as he goes out on medical leave as early as my first day on the job. Big shoes to fill, lots to learn asap, up an running from the start, go make it happen. Woohoo! One more week, finalizing stuff from the old position, packing boxes, saying good-bye to long term colleagues who, since we are a small community when you think of it, I will see again. Then, Wham! right into it on March 9. Time to take some skills out of the back closet and start polishing them. Think good thoughts for me.

It Has Begun

For any of you who haven't heard, we've started a company. Projects by Objective LLC was formed in January of 2009. The three founding members have given themselves titles (Stu Sweet, Chief Operating Officer, John Carmichael, Chief Executive Officer, Ginger Carmichael, Chief Administrative Officer). We have purchased a domain (http://www.projectsbyobjective.com/) and are working on getting the web site built up (right now it takes you to GoDaddy where we purchased the domain).

What do we do? We step in with our expertise, knowledge, backgrounds and contacts to provide solutions for small to medium sized companies who don't have the manpower, contacts, skill set, etc. to provide the solution for themselves. We are working on a contract for our first client company and will move forward with that companies projects soon.

As a company, we will sub-contract parts of the projects our to our various contacts with the expertise and experience we need at that time. If you are interested in contracting your services with us, drop a comment on my blog with contact info and areas of expertise and I'll get back to you for more information. We'll keep anyone we feel we can trust to get the job done and done right on file, so we can use your skills when the projects come along. If you are a small company looking for some specific help or ideas, drop me a comment and I will get back with you asap. More to come, especially once we get our company web site up and running.

I Got the Job!

For those of you that heard, this is not necessarily all new, for those that haven't I will spell it out. I applied for and interviewed for a position as a Test Engineering Subject Matter Expert for all of Space System Company with LM. Last week I got a phone call from Central Recruiting telling me I had been selected. Well, today it's official. I received the official offer letter via email this afternoon. I plan to sign and return it tomorrow morning, accepting the offer as presented. I am excited about this change in career direction, the new and exciting adventure, and the possibilities. Of course the promotion with more money doesn't hurt either. What this means is that I shouldn't have to be on call for tests all the time and that I can spend more time traveling, etc. with my family and doing exciting things with them. I do not know when I start the new job yet, but expect it will be around March 2nd. Here's to a new adventure in my career. Woohoo!

Kopi Luwak

What the heck? Has Stu lost his mind? No, just verifying some interesting brain fodder. Kopi Luwak is the coffee that makes the current coffee house prices look cheap. Don't rush right out and buy some just yet. Realize that the coffee beans for Kopi Luwak have been through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet which from what I can tell is nearer a cat than a monkey but lives in Indonesia. I've smelled my cat's poo. I've smelled my dog's breath after eating my cat's poo. I do NOT want a cup of this coffee.

Ouch!

Pain is relative. Each of us has our own threshold of pain tolerance. What I find bothersome may to others be debilitating, yet what others find bothersome could knock me down for days. But, I firmly believe that the ones who have it the hardest are the ones who support someone in pain. I was reminded yesterday how much Linda does for me and how helpless she can feel. Yesterday Linda hurt her back. Not just a little twinge, but a knock-me-down, I can’t stand up; I can barely get myself to and onto the toilet kind of hurt. The last time she hurt her back like this was when Daniel was only a few months old. That time the doctors found she had a bulging disc. I am dong what I can to help, which as I am remembering now, isn’t much other than getting things and giving support. Not the way I wanted to be reminded how much she does for me when my pain hits me hard. Ouch.

Trouble @ Walmart?

These people must have REALLY wanted a cheap TV or something! Wow! Click HERE for the story.

I'm Thankful...

It's November, the month of Thanksgiving so I thought I'd go with an early thankful post. What I am most thankful for is that tomorrow is election day. Why am I so thankful for that? I am worn out! The ads, the phone calls, the arguments, the lobbying, the in fighting, the indecision, the nation divided. This election has been the worst one that I can remember, and I can remember them from as far back as when Jimmy Carter was elected (at least that is the first one I really aid any attention to). By far the thing about this election I have truly HATED is how it has made so many people into political racists. Maybe they were already there, but it is really showing all around the TV, news, blogosphere, etc. It seems that the only arguments anyone can come up with these last weeks are why I should not vote for someone because they are ..... and we get it from both sides, it is not party specific. What I would much rather be hearing is why should I vote for McCain and Palin, why should I vote for Obama and Bidin, why should I vote for Nader and whoever the schmo is that is his running mate. So, I am thankful that tomorrow we get to vote (I did already via mail in ballot BTW) and exercise one of the greatest rights we as Americans have, and that the ads are near the end, as are the phone calls. I am NOT looking forward to what I expect will be some major whining and complaining once this election has been decided, there are going to be some people on one side or the other that are VERY unhappy, and I expect I will "get" to hear about it. Happy Election.....Leave the emotions at home and GO VOTE!

Yawn, Another Boring Weekend - NOT!

So there we were, four grown men, Boy Scout leaders at that, out for a hike around the lake. It was a chilly October Saturday afternoon, spritzing rain, sleet, snow, sun with a high of about 36 Fahrenheit. We were taking part in the Arapahoe District BSA Camporee outside of Ward Colorado, camping with 25 boys and 11 adults from our troop, over 150 total at the camp for the weekend. The boys were in hot competition shooting shotguns, riding bicycles, shooting BB guns and other fun events that could be thought of. It was after lunch, and the four of us decided we'd leave the boys to their devises and hike around the lake, about a 2.5 mile hike. As we approached the spot where an earlier group taking this same hike had seen the wildlife, we paused in search of our own adventure. To be fair, I was the only one in this group that had also been part of the previous hike, so I knew where to look and pause. But, alas, we saw nothing. The other 3 with me were incredulous and did not believe the stories we told of the morning hike, thinking we had mistaken what we saw for something else. Not seeing anything on this hike just solidified those thoughts. Now mind you, on this hike we had the troop Scoutmaster himself and three Assistant Scoutmasters, not a squeamish bunch by any means, brave and strong, tromping through the aspens and lodge pole pines, with some meadow sprinkled in for good measure. Okay, back to the hike, we proceeded from the pausing point, with some ribbing being taken by yours truly. As we rounded a bend in the path and passed a grouping of small trees, almost like 10 foot high shrubs, with me in the lead, we see coming straight at us, out of nowhere, running at quite a clip with obviously more steam to be made, 3 (not 1, not 2, but 3, count 'em 3) Moose. The cow in the lead must have been in heat, as the bull had his nose in her backside and didn't even notice us. The third was another cow along for the run. As they approached, I quickly stepped back two steps and over three so I was behind one of the other men, cowering. Thankfully at about 20 feet from us they turned back towards the woods. We breathed sighs of relief just as they approached the edge of the woods and turned back toward us. I kid you not, I made full eye contact with that lead cow and she was not going to change her direction from us for anything, I almost ran, for fear of getting trampled. Again at about 20 feet they turned toward the woods, and this time proceeded into them and out of sight. We all breathed again, talked it through wildly and actually paced off the distance from where one of us was standing to where the closest moose turned. 21 feet...... We continued our hike with some great stories for the rest of the camp, only pausing for the other 4 moose we encountered that felt the need to cross our trail one-by-one within 20 or 30 feet of us, pausing to check us out before moving over the hill. So in 2 hikes on the same path I encountered 8 moose, granted some from the first hike were probably the same from the second hike, but still. The first hike we didn't get within 100 feet of the moose. The second hike won. The rest of the camping trip was fairly ho-hum after that, all we had was a moose through our campsite in the night, a troop that refused to stop chanting at all the other troops, ours included, after we were all in our tents, snow in the night so that we woke up to 3 inches on the ground on Sunday morning, and a tent with 5 boys in it collapse under the snow in the middle of the night so that they had to be rescued. It was a great time!

A New Adventure

I have been given the opportunity to make even more of a difference in my life, my sons lives and the lives of many other boys and parents as well. A few weeks ago I received a call, the timing was exactly right. The subject was something I had been thinking about for a few weeks, and I was in the right place in my head when the call came. Her name was Judith, and her call went something like this. "Stu, I have a question for you and I need you to say yes." My immediate response was a resounding, "Uh oh!" She countered with, "I need you to to be an ASM." My response, with no extra thought was, "Sure." I think she almost fell over with how easy the sell was.

An ASM you ask? What's that? Let me fill you in. ASM stands for Assistance Scout Master. Yes, that's right, I am now one of the adult guides (I would say leaders, but that would be wrong) for Daniel's Boy Scout Troop, which is also the Troop that Josh will join when it is his time. BSA Troop 117, like all BSA Troops, is boy led. What that means is that we as adult leaders/guides need to learn how to stand back and just gently nudge, allow mistakes to happen in a safe environment, and learn from the boys as they learn from us and each other. I spent all day Saturday getting trained. I've got my patches all sewn on my uniform and the iron heats up quickly when I need it. I look gooooood.

I am excited about this opportunity to help make a difference and to take new steps with my sons. I hope they are at least a little excited about this as well.

Beirut Remembrance Walk

Below is some gently edited text from Doc Doolittle, a gentleman I have known for a short time but am getting to know better and whom I have a great amount of respect for. As my readers know, my blog doesn't ask for donations to causes, it doesn't take political stances, it is only for the things I care about. Thanks to all for taking the time to read and remember. Text below:

Greetings to all

I wish to take a few minutes of your time to share. I am not asking that everyone who gets the word contribute to the cause but I am asking that you, and any you forward this on to, take a moment on 23 October 2008 to Remember the Peacekeepers that lost their lives in Beirut on that date in 1983 as well as those between 1982 & 1984.

I will be comforted in knowing that my efforts to get the word out and for people to remember these fallen warriors is enough. This is not a political event; nor is it likely to get much publicity. I am doing what I can in their memory and with your help this will be a successful event.

If you have any questions please contact me at the published email address in the text below

Thank you for passing the word

Beirut Remembrance Walk - 25th Anniversary of the Bombing of the Beirut Barracks 23 October, 1983, to benefit The Wounded Marine & Family Assistance Program and Veterans Memorial Day Tribute.
In this first-time walk of remembrance, Doc Doolittle (Sgt. USMC 1/81 - 6/91, Marine Security Guard Beirut 7/85 - 7/86), challenges everyone to never forget the sacrifices that were made by our Marines, Sailors and Soldiers as he walks 271 miles from Virginia Beach, VA to the Marine Corp Base at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC. "Our goal is simple; we will organize a walk to honor our fallen brothers and their families", Doc states.
This walk is to not only mark the 25th anniversary of that tragic event, but also to remember each Service Member's life lost in Lebanon from 1982 - 1984. It is so friends, family of the fallen, veterans and anyone else has an opportunity to walk a mile for one of our own that were killed in country. The walk will kick-off on 1 October in Virginia Beach, VA and cover 271 miles (one for each man lost), and will culminated at the Beirut Memorial (Jacksonville, NC; just outside Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base) on 23 October, 2008. In Doc’s words, “I am walking to remember those Marines, Sailors and Soldiers that "Gave All" during that period. I know a number of family members and veterans and it is the least I can do to show honor to them and the memory of the fallen.”
A $10 donation will provide lodging, food and support transportation on the walk and all monies over and above costs will be divided equally and sent to the two sponsors listed below.
For further information on how you can be involved, please contact Doc Doolittle here remember_peacekeepers_walk_2008@hotmail.com

The Wounded Marine & Family Assistance Program by clicking HERE

Veterans Memorial Day Tribute (Denver, CO) by clicking HERE

Really?

So my family and I were at a local chain store that shall remain nameless, but it rhymes with shmarget. We were checking out, and the cashier, in her nicest voice asked if we had found everything okay. My response was "No, we couldn't find any Silly Putty." You could actually hear the crickets in the next county. I don't think anyone had actually said no before, at least to her. She did not offer to point us to it, nor did she call on her handy-dandy radio to see if another person in the store might be able to offer assistance. In fact, she offered no assistance what-so-ever. So my question is, why ask? I guess it's store lingo for "How ya' doin'?" Isn't our new society great?

16 Years

As we head off to go camping this morning (probably on the road early afternoon) I want to take a minute to say Happy Anniversary to my wife Linda. This Friday is our 16th anniversary. Wow! I can't say it has all been perfect when you look at moment-by-moment, but when you look at the bigger picture as a whole, it doesn't get much better. A reminder to friends and family to take a step back every now and then and refresh yourself. Why you are with the one you chose, and who chose you. Have a great week~!

Happy Birthday USA

That's all........have a great 4th.

What? Are you kidding me?

Just saw this article on 9news.com this morning. Another seething moment. We are facing major issues with gas prices, everyone is preaching being green and Denver RTD is considering cutting back on their light rail service, even cancelling an entire line, that has only recently been built and opened. My opinion, if they need to make cuts, cut some of the bus runs that are using the fuel, not the electric light rail system. Once again, are you kidding me?